Category: Sports

BCCI issues ITT for Pepsi IPL media rights

MUMBAI: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has published an Invitation To Tender (ITT) for certain media rights relating to the Pepsi Indian Premier League (Pepsi IPL), for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons.

The media rights package available (as defined in the ITT), is as follows:

(a) Indian Subcontinent: Internet and Mobile Rights.

(b) Rest of the World (Certain Territories): Television, Audio, Internet and Mobile rights.

BCCI hon. secretary Sanjay Patel said that the upcoming seasons of the Pepsi IPL will be broadcast across the world through every technological medium available, thus reaching out to an even larger audience. The digital medium, for instance he said is rapidly gaining in terms of popularity and usage, with more and more fans relying on digital devices to follow their favourite teams and players before, during and after the matches.

“The IPL will aim to enhance the viewing, digital and interactive experience for cricket fans across the globe, by introducing diverse consumer-friendly innovations that will bring them closer to the action in their favourite sporting league,” he added.

The ITT document will be available at the BCCI Headquarters at the Cricket Centre, Wankhede Stadium, ‘D’ Road, Churchgate, Mumbai 400020, from 11 am to 5 pm (from 11 am to 2 pm on Saturdays, and excluding Sundays), from Thursday, 22 January 2015 to Monday, 2 February 2015, at a cost of Rs 2,00,000/- (non-refundable and non-adjustable), to be paid vide a demand draft drawn in favour of “ Board of Control for Cricket in India,” payable at Mumbai or Chennai (“Tender Fee”).

Bids have been asked to be submitted in person at 12 pm on Tuesday, 3 February 2015, at a meeting of the BCCI Marketing Committee, at which time it is intended that the bids will be opened, evaluated and the tender awarded in the presence of bidders.

January 21, 2015
Cue Sports set to receive a big boost in India

MUMBAI: The Indian Premier league (IPL) helped in the evolution of cricket by bringing in an interesting format. The format also allowed various other sports like kabaddi, tennis and football to come into the spotlight last year. Joining the bandwagon this year will be cue sports.

The Billiards and Snooker Federation of India (BFSI) president PVK Mohan has said that the ‘Cue Masters League’ (CML) will be held this year in India. The league will have six franchises from different part of the country.

“We hope to finalise the format after the second edition of the Indian Open, which gets over in Mumbai and will be held from 10 – 14 March, 2015. The best formula for the tournament is being worked out,” said Mohan.

International Management Group (IMG) has been roped in to work out the different modalities. IMG along with Reliance worked together during the Indian Super League held recently. Each of the franchises will have one marquee player along with a key marquee owner.

In order to taste success at the league, players will be tested for skills for all the three formats – billiards, snooker and pool in the inaugural edition. Speaking about the interest in the league Mohan added, “We have garnered interest from different business houses. We hope to get the final draft ready by April but it is still in a very nascent stage.”

Mohan, who was recently also elected as the International Billiards and Snooker Federation president, informed that plans were also afoot to have an Asian Players’ Tour Championship in snooker in five countries. “Exciting days are ahead for cue sport,” he concluded.

January 21, 2015
Sony Six and Pal bags telecast rights of Syed Modi International Grand Prix

MUMBAI: Sony Six and Sony Pal will be broadcasting the semi-finals and final matches of the Syed Modi International Grand Prix 2015.

Sony Pal will telecast the live event with Hindi feed between 2 – 7 pm on 24 and 25 January. To further strengthen the viewership of the tournament, the deferred telecast of the semi-finals and finals will be on Sony Six in the prime time evening slot (7 pm onwards). Taking under consideration the growing popularity of badminton in the country, Sony Six has undertaken the route of deferred feed in prime-time to ensure greater audience reach.

Badminton Association of India (BAI) president Akhilesh Das Gupta said, “We are thrilled to be partnering with Sony Six in bringing the final culminating stages of the tournament live to our audience. With the dual language feeds, prime-time telecast, high-quality content and sheer sporting action, we are optimistic in our mission to further advance the popularity of badminton across markets in India.”

BAI vice president, administration T.P.S. Puri added, “It gives us great pleasure to award the broadcast rights of the semis and finals of the tournament to Sony Six. With this viewers will be able to witness some of the best of international and domestic badminton talent take the court.”

Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan said, “The tournament is an exciting addition to our line-up of some of the best in domestic sports content and we are thrilled to be associated with such a grand event that hosts few of India’s brightest sporting talents. This year with the introduction of the Hindi feed and prime time telecast, we aim to tap into the rising popularity of badminton in India and cut across varied audience profile.”

Olympic bronze medallist Saina Nehwal will be seen looking at kick-starting her title defence against the likes of third seed P V Sindhu and the reigning world champion Carolina Marin of Spain. This year, the tourney will also host the best of domestic badminton talents including P C Tulashi, K Srikanth, Ajay Jayaram, H S Prannoy, RMV Gurusaidutt, Shreyansh Jaiswal and K Ajay Kumar amongst many more, battling it out for the title.

January 21, 2015
World Cup 2015 will be bigger and better: David Richardson

MUMBAI: With ICC Cricket World Cup fast approaching, several questions relating to the integrity of the sport are looming large. To jog our readers’ memory, not long back the world witnessed the shocking demise of Bob Woolmer while the tournament was on in 2007. To clear all such doubts and questions, ICC chief executive Dave Richardson said, “On the corruption side, it’s safe to say we’re the best prepared we’ve ever been.”

“There has been no stone left unturned,” he added even as preparations continue ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015. However Richardson stressed on the need for players to remember their responsibilities to uphold the sport’s integrity at all times.

On the eve of the eleventh edition of the tournament, Richardson strongly reinforced the ICC’s expectations on player behaviour as well as maintaining the game’s integrity at all times, on and off the field of play. “Over the last six months, or even going back further to the last Ashes series, there have been too many examples of player’s behaviour going too far and overstepping the boundaries of acceptances. The amount of sledging and disrespect shown by players to each other was bad. Since then, we have done a lot of work with our Umpires and Match Referees to ensure that they are much more pro-active in terms of policing behaviour on the field and when players do over-step the mark, taking appropriate action,” he asserted.

While outlining the ICC’s recent worldwide clampdown in dealing with suspected illegal bowling actions, Richardson outlined the ICC’s position for the upcoming World Cup. “We want to make sure that we don’t lose ground on what I think has been significant progress over the last few months. We realised that we had a significant problem. There were just too many bowlers from all teams, bowling with suspected actions. So, I think we have made very good progress in identifying those bowlers, sending them off to be tested and where necessary, suspending them until they can remedy their actions,” he said.

Substantiating his point, he further added, “There might be one or two bowlers who were suspended and who are now coming back into international cricket and the challenge for them will be to make sure that they maintain their remedied action. The instructions to the match officials will be no different and these matches will be treated exactly the same as any other international match. And if there are bowlers who are bowling with suspect actions, they will be reported.”

With corruption and match-fixing specters that loom over world sport, Richardson credited the work of the local agencies, as well as the ICC Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU). He believes that the ICC is well-equipped to deal with these threats.

“Our Anti-Corruption personnel have done a lot of work in entering into agreements, associations and arrangements with the local police and law enforcement agencies in both New Zealand and Australia. Our intelligence and information on who these corruptors are, and who may try and fix matches around the world, has grown. We know exactly where these people are and we have got a list of more than a hundred names that we will be passing on to these law enforcement agencies. It will be very difficult for anybody outside of the game to come and even attempt to try and corrupt players, umpires or anybody involved in the World Cup, to try and fix a match,” he emphasised.

“In addition, the New Zealand and Australia governments have introduced specific legislation, which makes attempting to fix, or fixing matches, a criminal offence. This enables, not only us (ICC ACSU) but the police themselves to take much more specific and direct action against these people who are trying to corrupt the game,” Richardson added.

January 20, 2015
ESPNcricinfo launches new series before World Cup

MUMBAI: With the Cricket World Cup less than a month away, cricket portal ESPNcricinfo has launched a new video series called ‘Contenders’.

The series will have former skippers Rahul Dravid and Greame Smith sharing their observations on strength and weaknesses of the teams participating in ICC World Cup 2015. They will also critically analyse the possibilities of each team and determine the key factors in all the teams. Besides analysis on capabilities, the duo will also scrutinize the statistics and predict their progress in the tournament.

The 10 episode series starting 20 January, 2015 will be hosted by Gaurav Kalra and is sponsored by Renault.

ESPNcricinfo editor Sambit Bal said, “At ESPNcricinfo, it has been our constant endeavour to produce high-quality original video programming, and Contenders is yet another step in that direction. It brings together two iconic cricketers who have led their teams at the World Cup to examine the prospects of the 14 teams and their leading players in the cricket’s biggest event.”

January 20, 2015
ICC launches World Cup quiz game on its website

MUMBAI: The International Cricket Council (ICC) has launched a new game on its website, which can be played on multiple devices like desktop PC, tablets and mobiles. Fans will be able to test their cricket World Cup knowledge in two different game modes.

The official ICC Cricket World Cup will be held in Australia and New Zealand.

The CWC Quiz has a bank of over 1000 questions and covers all ten Cricket World Cups so far from 1975 to 2011, with questions on every team that have participated in the tournament over the years.

The CWC Quiz has two game modes, Super Over and Powerplay. In the Super Over, the player has to answer six questions and try and score as many runs, while in the Powerplay, the player gets 30 questions. Runs are scored for answering questions correctly. Faster answers yields more runs.

In addition, players can reach higher levels in the game and win in-game badges depending on their performances. They can also share with friends on Facebook and Twitter, which in turn will enhance the popularity of the competition.

The Power Play version of the game will launch on 20 January, which is also going to offer fans the opportunity to win exclusive ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 merchandise.

Participants who sign in via their Facebook or Twitter accounts can show off their Cricket World Cup knowledge to their friends and perhaps even top the leaderboard.

January 17, 2015
Hero Hockey India League 2015 unveils new ‘Ladoh To Aise’ campaign

MUMBAI: Last year saw the emergence of many sports leagues and it definitely hasn’t stopped there. The countdown to the third season of the Hero Hockey India League has begun. Its official broadcaster Star Sports and the organizers Hockey India have launched their new campaign, with the tagline – ‘Ladoh Toh Aise’ (Fight Like This).

As part of the new campaign, two TVCs in Hindi have been shot. Interestingly, the director of the Shah Rukh Khan starrer Chak De! India, Shimit Amin returns once again to India’s national sport. Amin is the creative director of the new Hockey India League campaign.

The campaign brief seeks to reach out the ‘brave new and emerging Indian,’ one who is fearless and determined to create his own identity. As a change agent, the new Indian doesn’t believe in walking the conventional path but charting his own legend and history. Resolute in his belief, the brave new Indian is ready to fight the world to realise his dreams.

The brief further elaborates that the HIL is the battleground for such brave Indians. By giving them the platform to fight for what they feel is right, it seeks to showcase their expertise and prove their mettle on a grand stage, which will be watched by millions in India and abroad.

The first film features India and Delhi Waveriders’ captain, Sardar Singh and the second has the vivacious Indian and Uttar Pradesh Wizards’ goalkeeper, PR Sreejesh. The first film showcases Singh as an individual who, since childhood, is always the first one to step forward to any situation and is a born leader. The situations range from entering an orange orchard through barbed wires to entering a wrestling arena to fight against a heavyweight champion.

On the other hand, the second film showcases custodian Sreejesh as a calm and fun guy, who sings his way through any stressful situation. He is seen performing an aerial and bike stunt while singing the folk song ‘surangani’, both with equal ease. The different facets of these men are two approaches of the brave new Indians in the league – ‘Ladoh Toh Aise.’

Star Sports creative communication head Juju Basu along with his team members comprising Vaibhav Chib, Vikas Dubey and Charles Chakkunny were part of the campaign. Red Ice Films was the production house that shot both the films. The film, featuring Sardar Singh, has been directed by Basu while the one with Sreejesh has been directed by Surya Balakrishnan.

The matches of the league will be telecast live on Star Sports 2, Star Sports 3 and Star Sports HD2 channels, while its website starsports.com too will carry the live coverage of the matches at 6:45 pm beginning from 22 January.

Six teams, Dabang Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh Wizards, Kalinga Lancers, Ranchi Rays, Delhi Waveriders and Punjab Warriors will compete in the third edition to bag the winning title.

January 17, 2015
BBC, AIR and ABC join hands to launch new show on cricket

NEW DELHI: BBC World Service in partnership with All India Radio (AIR) and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is launching a new show called Stumped from 17 January.

The show will bring together three cricket live wires – India, the UK and Australia – on one platform.

The team of Stumped has presenters from all the three broadcasters. The names, which are part of commentators’ team, are Prakash Wakankar, English commentator of AIR; Alison Mitchell, first female commentator of BBC and the programme host and ABC’s Jim Maxwell. The idea behind the show is to explore the world of cricket and bring lively, informative, and humorous debate.

Keeping with the spirit of World Cup 2015, the first series will coincide with the start of the tournament. The show will be hosted from venues across the World Cup host countries – Australia and New Zealand. There will be weekly roundup and discussion of key talking points from the World Cup and other lighter stories in sport from around the world.

Indian cricket fans will be able to relish the ‘tales from the test’ that will be recounted by cricketing raconteur Henry Blofeld. Beside this, there will be some hard hitting questions on the show like: Why did penguins once stop play? And which international team score highest in the fashion stakes? Why do so many cricket terms find their way into everyday language?

AIR director general F Sheheryar said, “AIR is delighted to co-produce and broadcast Stumped, together with BBC and ABC, on cricket, which undoubtedly is the favourite sport of millions of sports lovers in India. All India Radio hopes that this programme, which will be carried by AIR’s FM Rainbow network in India, will help ordinary listeners understand the sport better and also spark listeners’ interest in the game in which India is the reigning champion especially with the ICC World Cup round the corner.”

Stumped is a weekly programme and will be aired at 11:30 IST on All India Radio FM Rainbow Network and also at 0030 GMT on the BBC World Service. It will also be live streamed on All India Radio website.

January 17, 2015
Sony Six’s Prasana Krishnan upbeat about African Cup Of Nations broadcast

MUMBAI: After generating considerable revenue and viewership with the FIFA World Cup and EURO, Sony Six continues to extend its catalogue of international football and this time it has invaded a new territory.

The channel has added to its kitty the African Cup of Nations, which started in 1957 and comprises 16 nations from the African continent. This will be the first time that the tournament will be aired on Indian television. Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, Sony Six business head Prasana Krishnan said that he was “quite surprised” that an event filled with numerous stars has never been broadcast in India until now.

The tournament kicks off on 17 January, 2015 with a match between the host Nation Equatorial Guinea and Congo. The tournament clashes with all the major club leagues across the globe and certainly raises a question mark if Indian football lovers will miss their favorite club action in order to catch up with the African Cup.

When asked about this, Krishnan said, “We will always have multiple action going on at the same time but it is up to the viewers to decide what they want to follow. International football is always respected and people love to see their stars playing in country colours for their respective nations.”

Many big club managers have started to blame the African Cup of Nations due to their recent failures as the core of many teams took a blow when strong performers were not available for selection. All other major international football events are played during the June – July calendar gap and there is a long term debate going on if AFCON should also be conducted during such a gap. Krishnan explains, “As a broadcaster, I would have certainly loved a gap but I see this scenario in a very positive way. The viewers are already in a football-watching mood as all the action is on and hence we don’t need to put some special efforts to engage their attention. Moreover, managers were well aware that the players will leave during this period to serve their nations and hence they should have no reasons to be upset. The long going debate about calendar gap is FIFA’s prerogative to solve.”

While traditionally, broadcasters acquire sporting events’ rights for the long-term, in this case Sony Six has picked up the rights only for 2015. This is an experiment for both the hosting organization and the broadcaster. The viewership numbers and popularity of the aired matches will, in turn, determine whether the association will grow further.

With this acquisition Sony Six aims at establishing itself as a home for international football. Krishnan sees this increased football coverage as a positive move towards improvising the sport in basic level. “The final goal is to see India playing in tournaments with international importance and as we broadcast more of the sport in India, we will see kids following them and someday we may have a strong football team. As far as Sony Six is concerned, we will not only restrict ourselves to international football. Whenever we see an opportunity to acquire club action, we will catch on to it.”

No media or marketing campaign to promote the tournament to viewers is on the cards as of now. “We didn’t have too much time to promote the tournament so we are not looking at a specific marketing campaign.”

Though the tournament is filled with established stars, one will have to wait and watch how AFCON establishes itself in the midst of action packed Club football.

January 16, 2015
“ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 will attract TV audience of 1 billion”: Andrew Robb

MUMBAI: The countdown to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 has already begun with fans gearing up to watch the matches either on television or at the stadiums. Buoyant about the event, Australian Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb is of the opinion that it will engage one fifth of the world’s population. Robb said, “India and Australia are both blessed with the love for cricket. The upcoming World Cup will attract a TV audience of one billion!”

Robb was speaking at the ‘Match Australia’ programme, which is part of the ongoing Australia Business Week being held in India. He had great admiration for the ‘God’ of Indian cricket, Sachin Tendulkar, who sadly will be missed at this year’s World Cup. “Tendulkar is not the God of Cricket just in India but also Australia,” he added.

Post his revelations, a panel discussion brainstormed and analysed on the current form of the Indian and Australian cricket teams slated to participate for the World Cup. Joining the panel were cricket expert and commentator Harsha Bhogle, former cricketer and current Cricket Australia board member Michael Kasprowicz and former Indian batsman Sanjay Manjrekar. The session was moderated by sports columnist Ayaz Memon.

Posing a question to Kasprowicz, Memon said, “Michael Clarke, who is recovering from a series of hamstring injuries, will be leading the Australian squad. From a fitness point of view, is it a wise decision?” In his reply, Kasprowicz said, “While that could be a concern, one needs to look at it at an overall point of view. It is a great, experienced and in my opinion a very balanced squad.” Manjrekar interjected saying that he found the overall game scenario in Australia changing, from a team that was earlier precise in decision making to today not being able to take a concrete call as in Clarke’s case. Kasprowicz didn’t differ with him as he agreed that the current scenario in Australian cricket was changing but only a bit, not more.

Memon with his insights of the game took to another parallel of the game by asking, “With Dhoni announcing his retirement from test cricket, is the state of mind of the current squad going to be crucial? Will the decision and the World Cup redefine the role for MS Dhoni ahead?” Manjrekar was all praise for ‘captain cool’ by speaking about his prowess for the game. He found Dhoni to possess a unique character wherein he, with his decision-making and on-field abilities, was able to make up for half of the overall team. “Dhoni is not someone who is concerned about the history of the game. In fact he will not be able to name even five captains of the Indian cricket teams from the past, if questioned.” Not stopping there, he went on to mouth his own version of the famous ‘Mere Paas Ma Hai’ dialogue from Bollywood movie ‘Deewaar’ by looking at Kasprowicz teasingly and saying, “If you guys have Steve Smith and Mitchell Johnson, we have Mahendra Singh Dhoni.” While the audience cackled, Kasprowicz, not surprisingly, was unable to comprehend the humour.

Memon then quizzed Bhogle about his biggest concern with regards to India’s squad for the upcoming event. The expert lamented, “India’s bowling skills are weakening a bit. If the bowling skills improve, we will have a great game. You don’t need to take many wickets but just bowl well.”

The panel then moved to discussing whether India’s celebrity cricketer Virat Kohli could become the biggest pivot at the World Cup this year? Manjrekar said it was a treat to watch both Kohli and Steven Smith bat at the last India versus Australia test series. “Kohli will be a great contributor at the World Cup after Dhoni,” he expressed.

The statement led to Memon asking the panel if India’s squad had the right balance of experienced as well as young players? Bhogle was the first to reply, saying, “With Tendulkar and most of the well known bowlers from the previous squad now gone, it looks very much younger but I know from the talent that was available to us, the best were picked.” Manjrekar added that one important feature of the World Cup was holding up one’s nerves even during the most testing times. He therefore was of the opinion that India’s squad had a balanced mix of young players as well as those who were not only experienced but also temperamentally strong.

While the panel picked up their home teams as favourites to win for the World Cup, Kasprowicz concluded by saying, “I wish to see the finals being played between India and Australia at a packed Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) stadium with both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Australian counterpart Tony Abbot in attendance.”

Prior to the discussion Bhogle was honored with the ‘Friends of Australia’ award for his contribution to the game and helping foster better relations between the two countries. As part of the ‘Match Australia Programme,’ the gentlemen’s game will be used as an opportunity for investors to visit Australia, enjoy the game and also help boost commerce with a three day weekend programme. As part of the initiative, businessmen can attend investment roundtables on Fridays, followed by sight-seeing tours on Saturdays and by watching cricket matches at the stadium on Sundays.

January 16, 2015