KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 2 — A men’s singles badminton match involving shuttlers from Israel and Nepal was inadvertently broadcast for less than five minutes on RTMKlik’s Olympic Channel 4 on Wednesday night.

Broadcasting Department director-general Datuk Suhaimi Sulaiman, in a statement late last night, however, said that Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM) promptly switched the live coverage to a handball event.

"As the official broadcaster of the Paris 2024 Olympics, RTM aired Lee Zii Jia’s match live on Saluran Okey (channel) on July 31 from 8.50pm to 9.30pm (MyTV, Astro & RTMKLIK).

"RTM broadcasts the Olympics live through two main channels, Saluran TV Okey and Saluran Sukan, and six special channels on RTMKlik, to fulfil the wishes of Malaysians wanting to experience the excitement of the Olympics up close from July 27 to August 12,” he said.

Earlier yesterday, Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil asked RTM to explain the alleged lack of live coverage of Malaysia’s professional men’s singles badminton player Lee Zii Jia’s final group stage match at the Paris 2024 Olympics on Wednesday.

This followed a Facebook user expressing dissatisfaction that RTM, as the national broadcaster, did not air Zii Jia’s match against the world number 62 from Spain, Pablo Abian, instead showing the match between Israel’s Misha Zilberman and Prince Dahal from Nepal. — Bernama