Delhi meeting of ‘Her Game, Her Story’ at Delhi Golf Club, 5^th March 2024

A two hour coffee morning in Delhi resulted in some valuable insights for the HER GAME, HER STORY project. A diverse set of guests ranging from a chess prodigy turned chess commentator to the sports editor of one of India’s leading 24 hour news channels – highlighted the various issues around women sportspeople in India and how they are covered in the media.

There was considerable talk around the ongoing WPL, the Women’s Premier League (Cricket) and how most of the coverage in mainstream media was exactly like a match report for a men’s match! There were enough women doing TV commentary but not enough of the ‘case study’ stories on how women in India pursue cricket despite the odds being stacked against them in terms of family support and financial constraints.

Tania Sachdev is just one of 23 women chess grandmasters from India. She has now transitioned into being a presenter and commentator for chess events around the world. She spoke of how she has had to learn the tricks of sports broadcasting while learning on the job and even being trolled online. She said she would love to sign up for any course that would help her deal with the director’s talkback! That’s an issue for all new presenters, learning to talk on air, while someone is talking in your ear.

Neha Mathur, Founder of WordsWork Communications has worked in PR for sports events and sports people over the last 20 years. Neha’s view was that women sportspeople are fed up of being covered around just two angles, their impoverished background and how they balance family and sports.

Rica Roy, the current Sports Editor at NDTV 24×7, spoke of how she’s involved in a campaign to get employment for women sportspeople after they finish their playing days. The challenges of convincing employers to see the potential of top ranking sports people is even harder if it’s a woman in question.

Misha Kumar, who was the former dean of the Sportzworkz Media Institute, spoke of how there is a complete dearth of women in sports broadcasting in India. There are virtually no women in sports broadcasting on the technical side, they tend to be be presenters, commentators and producers but hardly ever as camera people, vision mixers or editors.

India is shining through its women sports people, many of whom are among the top medal prospects at the upcoming Paris Olympics. PV Sindhu in Badminton, Sanamacha Chanu in Weightlifting, Vinesh Phogat in Wrestling, Nikhat Zareen in Boxing & Aditi Ashok in Golf. So if women are playing and winning, then it’s only right if we have more women journalists talking about HER GAME, HER STORY. 

LIST OF SPECIAL INVITEES

Tania Sachdev

Chess Champion, Commentator & Content Creator

She has been a child prodigy winning the Indian U-12 title in 1998 and became India’s 8th woman grandmaster in 2005. Has won Chess Olympiad titles, Asian titles, Commonwealth titles. Now making a name as a commentator, was at the Tech Mahindra Global Chess League produced by Sportzworkz in 2023

Rica Roy

Consultant Sports Editor of India’s leading 24 hour news channel, NDTV. Has covered sports for close to 20 years. Team Leader at ‘Her Sport Ki Champion’ at the not for profit ASPIRE FOR HER, which aims to add 1 million women to the workforce by 2025.

Neha Mathur Rastogi

Founder, WordsWork Communications.  Has almost 20 years of experience of working in PR & Communications in Sports, Luxury & Corporate Sector. Post graduate topper in PR & Event Management from MICA (Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad)

Misha Kumar

Dean of Sportzworkz Media Institute. Undertook complete training & placement of the first batch of 5 SMI students. Travelled to Pakistan in 2019 to train local talent in sports production. Ex- producer, ESPN-STAR sports & documentary film maker for FIFA. 

Anasuya Mathur

Editorial Head of Special Projects at NDTV, involved with delivering campaigns such as Samarth by Hyundai, which highlights how India needs to become more inclusive for those with disability. She has covered 2 Olympics and attended two more as a volunteer because of her love for sports because of which she was an Associate Sports Editor at NDTV.

Gaurika Chopra

Former Sports Editor at NDTV and a rare TV ‘all-rounder’ – an anchor, producer, reporter, editor & even a camera person. Her holistic knowledge made her a sought after trainer at NDTV, she now works as a media consultant. Gaurika has played half a dozen sports as school & college level.

GALLERY