Raahil’s blog: Dear Star, where are all the Indian tennis stars?

Earlier today, India won its 11th medal at the ongoing Paralympic Games in Tokyo. This super impressive tally follows the seven-medal tally India won during the Olympics last month. Right after the Olympics got over, in a Campaign India story, we asked experts about what brands need to do to support athletes ahead of Paris 2024 for a better metal haul.

 

And the main learning from there was – keep the momentum going.

 

And now comes the US Open, where broadcaster Star Sports decided to not air either of the matches featuring Indian athletes (so far).

 

Ankita Raina partnered Kateryna Bondarenko on Wednesday night (early Thursday) in a Women's Doubles game, and none of Star Sports’ television channels, or Disney+ Hotstar, aired the game.

 

Further, much to fans’ chagrin, Star didn’t broadcast Sania Mirza’s Women’s Doubles game during the early hours on Friday, either.

 

We need broadcasters to help local athletes. For brands to partner with them as endorsers, the athlete needs to garner some sort of eyeballs from audiences. This can only happen when the broadcasting network airs their games, as a starting point.

 

Star Sports has at least two more chances to get that right as Mirza turns up in the Mixed Doubles event, and Rohan Bopanna takes part in the Men’s Doubles event.

 

Over to you Star! 

 

(The author is managing editor, Campaign India)