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Tag: Harmanpreet Kaur

  • Three Indian women, including Dia Mirza and Harmanpreet Kaur, named in BBC’s 100 Women 2023 list

    Three Indian women, including Dia Mirza and Harmanpreet Kaur, named in BBC’s 100 Women 2023 list

    Mumbai: Three Indian women have been included in this year’s BBC 100 Women list of inspiring and influential women.

    For the first time, to recognise the disproportionate impact of climate change on the lives of women and girls, this year’s BBC 100 Women list specifically highlights a group of women leading the battle against the climate crisis.

    By naming 28 climate pioneers from all corners of the globe, the BBC 100 Women list 2023 celebrates those inspiring and leading their communities to tackle and adapt to the devastating impact of climate change in their regions.  

    The announcement of this year’s list kicks off the BBC’s 100 Women 2023 season – focusing on women’s right and diverse life experiences around the globe, with special content including interviews, documentaries, features, digital and social journalism, across the BBC’s UK and global TV and radio services, BBC iPlayer and BBC.com.

    The Indian women included in this year’s list are:

    1   Dia Mirza, award winning actress from Indian cinema, who is involved in numerous environmental and humanitarian projects.

    2   Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of the India women’s national cricket and the first Indian woman to be named as one of Wisden’s five Cricketers of the Year.

    3   Arati Kumar-Rao, an independent photographer, writer, and National Geographic Explorer, who documents the changing landscape across South Asia, caused by climate change. One of BBC 100 Women’s 28 Climate Pioneers.

    Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo, who was born in England in the 1940s, but became one the first Westerners to be ordained as a Tibetan Buddhist monastic after travelling to India at the age of 20, is also included on the list.

    Other notable names from the BBC 100 Women 2023 list include former First Lady of the United States, attorney and campaigner Michelle Obama, footballer Aitana Bonmatí, human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, actresses America Ferrera, beauty mogul Huda Kattan, AI expert Timnit Gebru, campaigner Ulanda Mtamba, writer Oksana Zabuzhko and feminist leader Gloria Steinem.

    Yet it is the new names that make the BBC 100 women list so unique. Among them are the 28 Climate Pioneers, announced to coincide with the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP28, starting later this month in Dubai.

    They include Paraguayan sprinter Camila Pirelli, South African freediving instructor Zandile Ndhlovu, Pakistani midwife Neha Mankani, Nigerian mental health advocate Jennifer Uchendu and Thai campaigner for indigenous and LGBTQ+ rights Matcha Phorn-in.  

    Other women celebrated for their work tackling the climate crisis in different fields, include Brazil’s state minister Sonia Guajajara, firefighter Sofia Kosacheva, and climate advisers Iryna Stavchuk and Christiana Figueres.

    The season will look at the practice of child marriage, as 12 million underaged girls are forced into marriage every year. It will explore the spike in climate anxiety concerns with a data-led project, and hear from women whose reproductive choices have been impacted by environmental concerns. It’ll go on the road with Mexican truck drivers in a heavily male-dominated and dangerous business, and also travel up the mountains with a group of shepherdesses who brought wealth and transformed their community in less than a generation.

    The full BBC 100 Women List 2023 can be found here: BBC 100 Women

    BBC News International Services senior controller Liliane Landor: “It is fantastic to see the truly remarkable women named on this year’s BBC 100 Women list. This diverse list of influential and ground-breaking grassroots women, who have been making a difference in their field – from community level to international politics – are an inspiration to us all.

    “In a year where extreme heat, wildfires, floods and other natural disasters have been dominating headlines, and where wars have weighed heavily, it is more important than ever that the BBC World Service continues to shine a spotlight on women globally and their fight back against climate change.”

    Alongside the list, BBC 100 Women will present a season of specially commissioned content and documentaries, featuring the untold stories of some of this year’s BBC 100 Women, including:

    In Conversation

    BBC News will broadcast exclusive conversations with some of the most globally recognised women on this year’s list:

    BBC 100 Women In Conversation: Amal Clooney, Michelle Obama and Melinda French Gates

    Each year, 12 million underaged girls are forced into marriage – a crisis that at the current rate will take over 300 years to fix, says the UN. Now, three of the world’s most high-profile humanitarians have vowed to tackle the issue together. In a BBC 100 Women exclusive, Michelle Obama, Amal Clooney and Melinda French Gates talk about the work they do to combat child marriage and amplify the efforts of grassroots organisations.

    Airs on BBC News on Saturday 25 November at 7 am and 2 pm IST, Sunday 26 November at 1 pm, 8 pm and Monday 27 November at 3 am IST.

    BBC 100 Women In Conversation: Gloria Steinem

    The face of the women’s rights movements in the US during the 1970s and an icon of feminism, Gloria Steinem has spent the last 50 years focusing her efforts on advancing women’s political participation and reproductive rights. Her activism followed her career in journalism, where she was the co-founder of Miss Magazine, one of the first US publications to focus on women’s issues beyond the perils of housekeeping. Now at 89 years old, Steinem has sat down with BBC 100 Women to discuss how feminism has changed over the decades, the impact of cancel culture, and what the future might look like for women’s rights around the world.

    Airs on BBC News on Saturday 2 December at 6 pm, Sunday 3 December at 6 am, 1 pm and Monday 4 December at 1 am.

    BBC 100 Women Documentaries

    Rising tides, shifting futures

    With sea levels rising fast, women are leading grassroots efforts in coastal areas to help mitigate the effects of climate change. From Miami’s increasingly gentrified Little Haiti neighbourhood to the fishing villages of eastern Ghana and the outskirts of Cape Town in South Africa, BBC 100 Women meets the women at the forefront of the climate battle – working against the odds to secure a future for themselves and their communities.

    Airs on BBC News on Saturday 25 November at 8 am and 9 pm, Sunday 26 November at 6 am, 3 pm and Monday 27 November 12 am IST.

    Ride Above It

    Balance, stamina and sequins: BBC 100 Women enters the show-stopping world of disabled equestrian vaulting. A small-town troop of disabled children and women in Italy train hard all year and compete to find glory in the ring, doing gymnastics and coordinated dances on a horseback. But the rewards of the sport go well beyond the medals – as they work to deal with stigma and overcome their own fears, one pirouette at a time.

    Airs on BBC News on Saturday 2 December at 8am and 9pm IST, on Sunday 3 December at 3pm and Monday 4 December at 12am IST.

    On The Road with Mexico’s Traileras

    Clara, Liszy and Paty are breaking gender barriers in the male-dominated cargo transport industry – they are some of Mexico’s traileras, women truck drivers travelling distances on the country’s dangerous routes. Robberies and abuse are part of the hazards they face in the job – but the traileras are determined to overcome adversity. BBC 100 Women rides with them as they work to make a better life for their families and change the face of the next generation of drivers in Latin America.

    Airs on BBC News on Saturday 16 December

    The Last Wakhi Shepherdesses

    Deep into Pakistan’s Karakoram mountains lies the scenic Shimshal Valley, home to the Wakhi shepherdesses. Every year, over many generations, these women have taken their flocks to high pastures, where they prepare dairy products to barter while their animals graze during the warmer season. Their income has brought prosperity to the village and allowed them to build roads and provide an education for their children – but their tradition is about to end. BBC 100 Women follows the last shepherdesses on their journey up the mountains, on a dangerous trek 4,800m above sea level.

    Airs on BBC News on Saturday 23 December

    BBC 100 Women at COP28

    BBC 100 Women will be present at the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference COP28, from 30 November to highlight the strand’s commitment to telling the climate story. We will be holding a TV broadcast from Expo City, Dubai and from Nairobi, bringing some of our grassroot pioneers together to provide a space to share their thoughts and deeply personal experiences of living life right on the forefront of the climate crisis, amidst a growing sense of climate anxiety.

    This programme will air on BBC News on 3 December and will also be available on The Climate Question podcast from 10 December.

    BBC World Service Radio

    The Conversation – BBC 100 Women special: Climate pioneers

    Kim Chakanetsa meets two women on this year’s BBC 100 Women list: Basima Abdulrahman, founder and CEO of KESK, the first company in Iraq to offer green building services and products, and Jennifer Uchendu, founder of SustyVibes in Nigeria, a youth-led sustainability organisation, and The Eco Anxiety Project, an initiative promoting awareness and research into climate change and its impact on young Africans’ mental health.

    They’ll discuss their commitment to the environment, the challenges of getting their messages across, the impact that climate change is having on their mental health and their hopes for the future.

    Airs on BBC World Service Radio Monday 27 November at 11:30 GMT

  • WTF Sports Launches in India and Globally and appoints Harmanpreet Kaur and Suresh Raina as Global Brand Ambassadors

    WTF Sports Launches in India and Globally and appoints Harmanpreet Kaur and Suresh Raina as Global Brand Ambassadors

    WTF Sports, one of India’s biggest fantasy sports gaming platform has today formally announced their launch in India and Globally and appointed famed cricketers, Harmanpreet Kaur, the captain of the Indian squad at the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup in 2020 and Suresh Raina, the IPL superstar as Global Brand Ambassadors with the latter also joining the brand as a Strategic Partner.

    The announcement was made through a web conference with prominent cricket host, Vikram Sathaye moderating and hosting the webinar and Vinit Bhatia, Manit Parikh and Yash Kadakia Co-Founders – India and Global, WTF Sports introducing the cricketers as the Global Brand Ambassadors.

    The app currently hosts three major sports, multiple playing modes and exciting contests, ensuring that sports fans can get more skilful by letting them strategize and use their sports knowledge into rewarding behaviour. Users can create their own team made up of real-life players from upcoming matches, score points based on their on-field performance and compete with other fans. The app lets you manage your own team, mentor them and invite your friends to join in.

    Commenting on the launch and announcement Vinit Bhatia, Manit Parikh and Yash Kadakia, Co-Founders of WTF Sports – India and Global said, “We’re excited to launch WTF Sports and indulge the sports fanatic and have them use their sports knowledge. Harmanpreet and Suresh are some of the top players from the Indian cricketing world, they’re also great sportspeople, their energy, fierceness and strategic bent of mind is what makes them great Global Brand Ambassadors and they’re the perfect embodiment of the platform. It was also extremely exciting to have Suresh on board as a Strategic Partner with us and help us evolve the platform as we go along.

    Talking about the association, Harmanpreet Kaur, Global Brand Ambassador of WTF Sports said, “WTF Sports was the perfect fit with me, I can use strategy and my experience while playing, I’ve actually learnt to strategize better as I’ve played along. Additionally, when we were under lockdown and I couldn’t really practice, it was fun to come on the platform and feel like I’m still playing.”

    Suresh Raina, Strategic Partner and Global Brand Ambassador of WTF Sports said, “It is exciting to be a part of a fantasy sports platform like WTF Sports not just as an ambassador but also as the strategic partner, it is everything that I embody and what I believe in, it’s fierce, fun and competitive.”

  • Can cricket be now called both gentleman and gentlewoman’s game

    Can cricket be now called both gentleman and gentlewoman’s game

    MUMBAI: Cricket is termed as a religion in India and it’s said that the game unites Indians better than any religion can ever do. However, the game despite being dominated largely by the men, has lately seen growth and steady performance of the women’s cricket team that has turned the eyeballs of the audience as well as advertisers towards them.

    The growth story has become quite evident since the day Indian women’s team entered into the finals of the world cup against England organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2017. The Indian team failed to clinch the title but was hailed for the overall performance, post this there was no looking back for Indian women’s team as it won all the following matches.

    According to the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC), the 2017 world cup final match between India and England at Lords in London clocked over 19.5 million impressions on television. This was the most-watched women’s sporting event in India so far. Meanwhile, BARC’s 2018 data reported that the cricket alone drew 93 per cent of sports viewership among other sports in India.

    Moreover, the ICC claimed that over 180 million people around the world watched the women’s world cup and its official Twitter hashtag was the most ever used for a women’s sports final in 2017. Perhaps being optimistic about the overall growth of women’s cricket, ICC decided to organise the upcoming women’s T20 world cup as a standalone event rather than bundling it with men’s T20 world cup like earlier tournaments.

    The surge in audience TV impressions and social media engagements are evident that women’s cricket is proving its mettle and perhaps, the advertisers have started perceiving it as an asset that could be leveraged for brand promotion, be it through a campaign or official sponsorship. The brands such as CEAT, Uber, RedBull, and Vaseline among others have already been cashing on the women cricketers’ popularity.

    Despite being doubtful about the substantial growth of women’s cricket viewership, IPG Mediabrands’ Initiative chief executive officer Vaishali Verma said: “There is a lot of conversation happening around it and believe there would certainly be a growth in viewership of women cricket. This has been built up over the last couple of months and should definitely be better going forward.”

    Meanwhile, the international council with an aim to celebrate womanhood, has scheduled the final match of the T20 world cup on 8 March 2020 on International Women’s Day at Melbourne Stadium, which is likely to see a huge crowd with at least 200 dignitaries. The tournament that begins from 21 February will have knock-out matches with each team playing four matches along with one semi and final match each.

    The Initiative CEO further said, “Cricket has been established since ages and it’s unfair to compare men and women cricket as has become an established format, whereas the latter has been flourishing in the recent past. There’s definitely surge in audience viewership with respect to women cricket and it has become a niche category as compared to a few years ago.”

    With an aim to promote women’s cricket, BCCI has also increased the player’s fee as it revised the Grade A contract from Rs 15 lakh to Rs 50 lakh and Grade B from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh. Meanwhile, Indian women cricketers such as Smriti Mandhana, Deepti Sharma, Harmanpreet Kaur, and Jemimah Rodrigues have also started to become prominent faces in global cricketing events.

    To support his fellow mates of the same industry, the Indian captain Virat Kohli had launched a campaign called #JerseyKnowsNoGender to gain more momentum towards women’s cricket. Kohli urged his fans to support the female team by wearing the Indian jersey ahead of the T20 world cup and also nominated the sportsperson from various spheres to take up the challenge in a video message shared on his official Twitter account.

    With the rising popularity of women cricketers, the brands have started roping the women cricketers as official brand ambassadors due to their exemplary performance in every match. For example, The Indian T20 format captain Harmanpreet Kaur has achieved a title of ‘highest score by a woman cricketer in the knockout stage of ODI world cup’, scoring 171 (not out) against Australia in 2017.

    Meanwhile, the opening batswoman Smriti Mandhana was named the ICC Women’s Cricketer of the Year 2018. The One Day International (ODI) captain Mithali Raj was the only cricketer to achieve the highest score in the T20 format before retiring, she even had surpassed Indian batsman Rohit Sharma in this feat.

    The women team’s T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur has bagged a sponsorship deal with CEAT, a leading tyre company, along with Nike and ITC’s juice brand B-Natural. In this regard, ITC’s vice-president marketing services Shuvadip Banerjee said: “Harmanpreet embodies some of the values that challenger brand like B Natural, hence the choice and fit to make her an ambassador.”

    Batting for equality in cricket, Banerjee also said: “If KL Rahul, Rohit or Virat can deliver, so can Harmanpreet and many others from the women’s cricket team such as Mithali, Smriti and etc.”

    The Indian T20 captain is currently an ambassador of B Natural in the Punjab and Haryana markets. “Harman will gain attraction across the country especially because she’s representing Indian women’s cricket and giving a lot of importance of looking at this particular tournament this year. Probably, we may make her pan India ambassador of B Natural considering the popularity she gains in the upcoming event as it’s a game of finance,” ITC’s vice-president marketing services added.

    Meanwhile, Smriti Mandhana, the fastest run-scorer in all formats, has registered brands to her name such as Hero, Bata’s sportswear Power, Vaseline among others. Moreover, Mithali Raj is not only a skipper on the cricket pitch but also on a commercial pitch, when it comes to sponsorship, in terms of fee per endorsement. She promotes the US-based cab aggregator Uber and also Australian diamond brands called Rio Tinto’s.

    Dentsu Aegis Network chief executive officer Anand Badhkamkar said: “Brands' first priority is traction, they bankroll on any event or person considering the viewership and popularity of the person/event. However, with the increasing audience impression and women cricketers’ fame brands are ready to spend but seek a good return from the investment they have put in for the campaign and advertising their product.”

    He added, “The sudden change in the perception towards women, cricket has changed due to the power of women and the popularity of the game in India. ICC organising the women’s T20 world cup separate from the men’s tournament is itself becoming an important event and something to be proud of with women cricket.”

    While adding feathers onto the cap, Raj, Kaur and Mandhana has also made into the Forbes India Celebrity 100 List of 2019 as women cricketers; they were added into the list as a sub-category among sports personalities given their rising popularity and performances.

    The current women cricket team, who has brought the women category to glory, is also being seen as a social media icon with an increased number of followers on their Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. And, the brands have also been trying to get the leverage this social media fame. In this regard, Smriti Mandhana, who has active 1.6 million followers on her Instagram page, has been roped as an influencer by brands. In 2019 alone, she promoted brands like DBS Bank, OnePlus, Greenply, Vivo, and CricBuzz on her Instagram page.

    Agreeing to the fact that momentum for women’s cricket has grown in recent years, Madison Media’s senior general manager Chirag Shah said: “This primarily has happened on the back of good performance of women’s cricket team and scheduling of the game. Similarly, Steller performance by players like Harmanpreet Kaur, Smriti Mandhana, Jemmia Rodrigues in the past season has further given a huge boost to the sport.”

    He added, “Currently most of the brands are associated with sport only for the broadcast part in terms of spot buys but I see there is a great opportunity for brands targeting females especially progressive women to leverage the popularity of women cricketer by associating with the game in a holistic way.”

    Is it the new high for women cricket or the good is yet to come? This would only be decided going forward with viewers’ traction and brand attraction towards the game. The question lies in how well both domestic and international cricket body is going to transform the so-called gentleman’s game into gentlewoman’s game. As the action speaks louder than words – this quote has worked quite well for the women’s cricket team as their performance has put them in a niche category.

  • Royal Challenge Sports Drink launches #ChallengeAccepted campaign

    Royal Challenge Sports Drink launches #ChallengeAccepted campaign

    MUMBAI: Royal Challenge Sports Drink has launched #ChallengeAccepted, a campaign that challenges gender-based stereotypes in cricket and spotlights a world of equality that will lead to a better tomorrow both on and off the field. The campaign has been conceptualised by DDB Mudra Group.

    In the film, Mithali Raj, Harmanpreet Kaur, Veda Krishnamurthy from the Indian women cricket team come together with Virat Kohli, the men’s cricket team player, to say that ‘A day is coming where the world needs to become equal’ and urges fans to accept the challenge to break the barriers in their mind and to see men and women’s cricket as one game and one team which is not divided by gender.

    The campaign is also people to support the first-ever mixed gender T20 match that the brand will organise with women cricketers and the Royal Challengers Bangalore team.

    Talking about the campaign, DDB Mudra South creative head Vishnu Srivastav said, “Royal Challenge as a brand has always stood for forward thinking and boldness. It has stood for the spirit of challenging the ‘now’. So, when it came to this campaign, with the euphoria linked to the cricket season we wanted to talk about what’s missing in all this excitement – Women Cricketers. We wanted to create a campaign that challenges the world to move towards a more progressive and inclusive space for women, in sports and life. And we’re just getting started.”

    Diageo India executive vice president and portfolio head Amarpreet Anand noted, “With #ChallengeAccepted, the idea is to challenge stereotypes in life, because the bold are the ones who are fearless to do so. Our first point of view is to challenge gender stereotypes in cricket, where the game is being divided by gender & not skills & prowess. We believe that it’s a cause worthy of a conversation in culture & we are supporting the first mixed gender match with international cricketers. We are rolling out a full 360-degree activation plan supported by like-minded influencers and the RCB cricket team.”

  • Star Sports launches new campaign for ICC Women’s World T20 2018

    Star Sports launches new campaign for ICC Women’s World T20 2018

    MUMBAI: Star Sports has unveiled a new campaign for this year’s ICC Women’s World T20. The film captures the narrative of a girl who wants to play cricket, but is denied the opportunity at first, until she decides to take initiative and show her ability to the world.

    The TVC, shot in Kashmir, highlights the emotions that girls across the world go through when it comes to stereotypes attached to playing sports. From being picked in the local Sunday team or getting the opportunity to play, girls are often left out, despite possessing the skills to compete.

    Built on the core thought of letting the bat do the talking, “Ab inka balla bolega”, the campaign drives home the fact that anyone can excel at the world stage if given the right platform and opportunity, as seen by the ‘Women in Blue’ and their breakout run at the ICC Women’s World Cup 2017.  

    Apart from the TVC, the campaign also urges us to encourage talent with an equal lens, irrespective of gender in every sphere of life, by launching the #GiftABat movement.

    The Indian women’s team, led by Harmanpreet Kaur, will face New Zealand in their opening game of the tournament on 9 November 2018. Besides New Zealand, Australia, Ireland and traditional rivals – Pakistan are the other teams pitted in the same group as India. Fans can catch all the action starting 8.30 pm on SS1 – SS1 HD and Hotstar.