Russia Fed Cup captain says US denied him a visa

MOSCOW, July 9 (Reuters) Russia's tennis chief said today he had been denied a US visa to accompany his team for this week's Fed Cup semi-final against the United States and accused authorities of hampering his team's preparations.

''I should be with my team getting ready to face a strong US team,'' Russia Fed Cup captain and Russian Tennis Federation president Shamil Tarpishchev told Reuters.

''Instead, I'm sitting here in Moscow unable to do anything.'' The US embassy in Moscow declined to give immediate comment on the matter.

Russia take on the United States on July 14-15 in Vermont.

Tarpishchev, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), said he had been hoping to fly to the United States from Guatemala, where the IOC held its annual session last week.

''It's a two-hour flight from Guatemala to the US, so it could have been ideal to go straight to the States,'' he said.

''Instead, I had to spent 12 hours flying back to Moscow and then if I do get a US visa in the next few days I must make the same long trip back to America.

''Our players are already in the States but we don't have any coaches there to help them. That's nonsense,'' he added. ''I'm going to inform the International Tennis Federation because this is against any international norms of fair competition.'' Tarpishchev said it was not the first time he has had problems getting a US visa.

''At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics I got a restricted visa that said I couldn't go anywhere else outside of that city and for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City they gave me a visa only for the second week and I was forced to miss an IOC session prior to the Games,'' he said.

Tarpishchev said his visa problems had been going on for the past decade and that he thought he might be on some sort of black list because he had in the past been accused of having links to the Russian mafia, a charge he denies.

Reuters SAM GC1937