An online training programme for badminton coaches in India on Thursday ended in embarrassment after pornographic images appeared during a live session on the ‘Zoom’ app.
Head coach Pullela Gopichand, newly brought in singles coach Agus Dwi Santoso and doubles coach Namrih Suroto were present in the Zoom call.
The three coaches were selected to oversee the online coach development programme launched jointly by the Badminton Association of India (BAI) and the Sports Authority of India (SAI).
Around 500-700 coaches from different parts of India were present in the online call.
“Santoso, the new Indonesian coach, was the resource person when pictures started appearing on the screen. There was a momentary gap and then the images resurfaced. This happened a number of times,” a participant told Times of India.
Gopichand reportedly left and logged out from the session after the incident.
SAI clarified that the Zoom session was not hacked, but classified it as a “one-off glitch.” SAI’s IT department is investigating the issue in detail.
The incident happened a few days after cybersecurity department of India’s Ministry of Home Affairs warned that Zoom was not a “safe platform”.
Germany, Taiwan and Singapore have banned the app for official communication. Tech giants including Google and SpaceX have also banned its employees from using the novel app.