NEW DELHI: 1Sports has officially laid claim to being the first off the blocks among Indian sports channels in showcasing live cricket in a COVID-19 lockdown scenario.
1Sports, promoted by Gurgaon-based Lex Sportel Vision Pvt. Ltd, has acquired the rights to telecast the BetBarter Vanuatu Blast T10 League in the Indian subcontinent. The tournament, hosted by the Vanuatu Cricket Association (VCA) in the West Indies, is set to kick off on Wednesday, May 21, and culminate in a summit clash on June 13. For the uninitiated, Vanuatu is a part of West Indies and the VCA has been affiliated to the International Cricket Council (ICC) since 1995.
This tri-nation T10 tournament will comprise of three teams – MT Bulls, Ifira Sharks and Mighty Efate Panthers. As per the organisers’ schedule, each team will play the other thrice in the round-robin stages, and all the matches will be hosted at the Vanuatu Cricket Ground. Matches to these tournaments will be played every Saturday (except 1st week) morning starting 7.30 AM & 9.30 AM India time.
Speaking on the development, Dilip Sharan, CEO, Lex Sportel, said the company has always endeavored to bring sports content that offers “value and variety to sporting fans across various genres”.
Sharan said: “Our key theme has been to grow the sports market by promoting more variety of sporting at the most affordable rates to consumers.”
In terms of variety though, contact sports is the primary content proposition of the channel. With its own I.P. WIN Dangal Ke Soorma, along with shows like World of Sport Wrestling (WOS Wrestling, UK), Ring of Honor Wrestling Entertainment (ROH, US), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Bellator MMA (US), and Cage Warriors (European MMA promotion), 1Sports has a roster of six contact sports shows in all.
