SAI’s Online Badminton Coaching Classes Purportedly Disrupted By Porn Pop Ups

Much to the embarrassment of the Sports Authority of India, porn images disrupted the online coaching class which was being held for badminton coach aspirants.

Representational Picture (AFP)

New Delhi: Much to the embarrassment of the Sports Authority of India, porn images purportedly disrupted the online coaching class which was being held for badminton coach aspirants. The classes which are part of a 21-day program are being conducted by Sports Authority of India (SAI) and Badminton Association of India (BAI) and the first class was held on Monday (April 20). Since the beginning, the classes were getting a good response and in the first session, there were over 800 participants. According to a report by ANI, the online program was to be held five days a week and has 39 topics. According to a report by Times Of India, on Thursday the live streaming session which was held using the Zoom app was joined by India's chief badminton coach Pullela Gopichand, Indonesian coaches Agus Dwi Santoso and Namrih Suroto who were teaching techniques to young coaches. The report said that the porn images popped up at 12.40 pm and the glitch happened a few times more. At the time over 700 coaches from across the country were logged in. Gopichand logged out immediately after the glitches appeared. The report said that SAI clarified that the Zoom session was not hacked but instead what the participants faced were glitches and released a statement regarding the incident. It said that the Sports Authority of India, in association with national sporting federations, is hosting an online knowledge development workshop for coaches in 16 disciplines and so far, all sessions have functioned smoothly. But due to a ‘sudden technical malfunction, some unwanted material kept popping up on the screen’. The statement also said that the session was being ‘conducted by a senior coach of the Badminton Association of India, who also had the online technical control of the session.’ SAI has said that the IT department is looking into the matter.