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.
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 men’s and women’s cricket team and all International Cricket Council (ICC) Test matches featuring India; semi-finals and finals of ICC men’s and women’s One-Day international World Cup; semi-finals and finals of ICC men’s and women’s Twenty-20 World Cup have been recognised. All semi-finals and finals of ICC Champions Trophy (One Day);all semi-finals and finals of ICC World Test Championship; semi-finals and finals of ICC Men’s and Women’s Asia Cup (Twenty -20 and One-Day International); and India playing matches, semi-finals and finals of Under-19 World Cup are also in the list.
The tennis category 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; and Grand Slam tournaments - all such matches featuring Indian player in men’s doubles, women’s doubles or mixed doubles from quarter-finals onwards.
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.
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.
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.
While Kabaddi World Cup - all matches featuring India, semi-finals and finals - has also been recognised; 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 organised by the National Sports Federations have been recognised by the Central government.
