International news agencies suspended coverage of the Test series between India and England after Indian cricket authorities refused to lift restrictions on photo agencies.
News outlets including Agence France-Presse said they would not be filing any text or pictures from the four-match series after the Board of Cricket Control for India (BCCI) barred photo agencies such as Getty Images and Action Images.
English media organizations such as the Daily Telegraph and the Press Association also said they would support the protest.
“AFP deeply regrets the suspension of coverage of this important Test series as cricket fans will be deprived of stories and photos of the game they love,” the agency’s global news director Philippe Massonnet said in a statement.
“Unfortunately, the BCCI has chosen to substitute objective editorial coverage with in-house photography, a dangerous principle that AFP, like other international news agencies, simply cannot accept,” he said.
While the BCCI has only withheld accreditation from photo agencies, other news organizations fear the move sets a dangerous precedent.
The BCCI is to make a limited number of its own images available during the series, which began in Ahmedabad yesterday.
The News Media Coalition, which represents a group of media organizations, has been leading the discussions with the BCCI.
It said other agencies including Reuters and the Associated Press had decided to halt their coverage in text and photo before the British press added their voice to the protests.
“Editors will be angered by this decision of the BCCI and confused by the motives,” said Bob Satchwell, executive director of Britain’s Society of Editors.
“They just want to do the best job they can for their cricket-loving readers by choosing from the best news material. By damaging the ability of the press to cover cricket, the good name of the game also risks damage,” he said.
India ended yesterday’s first day of the series on 323-4.
Additional reporting by staff writer
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with