Badminton
Vimal Kumar laments lack of streaming of badminton, plans to write to I&B Ministry
Indian women's team made the nation proud by clinching the Badminton Asia Team Championships. But fans were deprived of telecast and streaming of the final as no Indian broadcaster had taken up the right to broadcast the tournament in the country.
Vimal Kumar is the former national chief coach for Indian badminton.
The Indian women's team created history in Shah Alam, Malaysia, on Sunday by winning the Badminton Asia Team Championships title, but many people have been deprived of witnessing the magnificent moment of Indian badminton in the country.
There was no streaming in India and no live broadcasting of the tournament, not even on DD Sports, India's government-owned national sports broadcaster.
Though the YouTube channel of Badminton Asia Team Championships streamed India's previous matches, including the women's team's thrilling win over Japan in the semifinals, there was apparently no live streaming of the final in India.
The Indian fans had to search for theft streaming links on Google. Many fans watched PV Sindhu, Gayatri Gopichand, Treesa Jolly and Anmol Kharb scripting history on Malaysian channel Astro SuperSport 4's illicit streaming link.
Badminton is one of India's most prominent sports with players regularly bringing home international glory, including World Tour titles and Olympic medals. The Indian men's team in 2022 won the world's biggest team title Thomas Cup, and now the women's team brought the Asian glory.
Hence, no broadcaster coming forward to telecast or stream the tournament is utterly disappointing.
Though no players, coaches or other stakeholders of the game talked about this in the past, former national coach Vimal Kumar did not shy away from red-flagging the issue after India's magnificent victory over Thailand, with Sindhu, Treesa-Gayatri and Anmol fashioning India's gold medal-winning performance.
"I am disappointed with the lack of broadcasting of the event. It is an important event and fans had to google to find out where one can watch it," Vimal lamented the absence of live streaming for the tournament in the country.
To address the issue, he decided to take the matter up with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry. Currently, Anurag Thakur, who is also the sports minister of India, is in charge of the ministry.
"In a sport like badminton, we are doing well. Lots of good youngsters are coming up and they need to be projected. It can lift the nation up. I plan to write to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry regarding this," Vimal added.
