Sporting Events of National Importance: The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has notified several sporting events as that of national importance under the Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Act.
Key Details:
The notification, which supersedes the earlier one issued in March 2021, has declared all Olympics Games, Commonwealth Games and Asian Games as events of national importance.
The following list is not exhaustive:
Under the cricket category:
All official One-Day, Twenty-20 and Test matches played by the Indian team and all International Cricket Council (ICC) Test matches featuring India; semi-finals and finals of ICC One-Day international World Cup; semi-finals and finals of ICC Twenty-20 World Cup have been recognised.
Under the tennis category
It includes all matches featuring India in Davis Cup, and in Grand Slam tournaments, finals of men’s singles, women’s singles and all matches featuring Indian player from the quarter-finals onwards.
Under the hockey category
The notification states that under the hockey category, World Cup - all matches featuring India and semi-finals and finals; Champions Trophy - all matches featuring India and finals; Indira Gandhi Gold Cup for women semi-finals and finals; Hockey India sub-junior national championship and Hockey India Academy National Championship; Hockey Men’s Junior Men World Cup (only when India is the host country); Sultan Azlan Shah Cup - all matches featuring India, semi-finals and finals; and International Hockey Federation - Hockey Pro League matches have been recognised.
Under football category
The football category includes World Cup - opening match, quarter finals, semi-finals and finals; Asia Cup - all matches featuring India and semi-finals and finals; Santosh Trophy - semi-finals and finals; Asian Women’s Football Cup (only when India is the host country); under-17 Federation Internationale de Football Association Women’s World Cup (only when India is the host country); and World Cup (under-17) - opening match, quarter finals, semi-finals and finals.
Under badminton category
The badminton events are all England Open Badminton Championship - all matches featuring Indian players, semi-finals and finals; and Badminton World Federation World Cup Championship - all matches featuring Indian players, semi-finals and finals.
Under Kabaddi World Cup
While Kabaddi World Cup - all matches featuring India, semi-finals and finals - has also been recognised.
Other Sporting events of National Importance:
Khelo India Games, Khelo India School Games, Khelo India Youth Games, Khelo India University Games, Khelo India Games for differently-abled persons, Khelo India Games for Indigenous Sports and Khelo India Winter Games have also been listed as events of national importance.
The other events include International Shooting Sport Federation World Cup, Commonwealth Shooting Championship and Commonwealth Archery Championship (only when India is the host country), and international events organized by the National Sports Federations have been recognized by the Central government.
