Astro sends 36-member crew to Rio Olympics, including former Olympian

Mirnawan Nawawi definitely knows what it feels like to compete in the Olympics. The former hockey player, nicknamed “The Boss”, competed in the Olympics three times as part of the national hockey team – the Barcelona Olympics in 1992, Atlanta in 1996, and Sydney in 2000.

At this year’s Olympics at Rio de Janeiro, Mirnawan will draw from his past experiences for his role as host and commentator for Astro’s Olympics coverage.

“Being a host who provides daily updates on the 2016 Olympics for Astro Arena gives me the opportunity to dive deep into the emotions of our athletes right before or after they compete,” he said during a press event.

“In each sport, the competitors would have different feelings, and with my experience as an athlete, I’ll try to bring them across as a host.”

Astro has dedicated 12 channels for the Rio Olympics in both HD (Ch 780 to 791) and SD (Ch 760 o 771) which can be viewed on TV sets and mobile devices via the Astro On The Go app.

Astro Sports Pack and Sports Lite Pack subscribers and those who purchased the Sports Pass for UEFA EURO 2016 can access the 12 channels.

The live telecast of the opening ceremony will air tomorrow at 6.55am and the closing ceremony on Aug 22 at 6.50am on Oly 1 (Astro Ch 761/HD Ch 781). As the sporting events take place, they will be complemented by Astro’s in-house progamme From Ali Bawal Studio (daily, 8pm to 11pm), featuring coverage from local hosts on Astro Arena (Ch 801/HD Ch 802).

Former national hockey player Mirnawan Nawawi is one of the commentators on Astros Olympics coverage. Photo: The Star/M. Azhar Arif

Former national hockey player Mirnawan Nawawi is one of the commentators on Astros Olympics coverage. Photo: The Star/M. Azhar Arif

Besides the live coverage on the various sporting events at the Rio Olympics, Astro will seek to put the spotlight on the 32 athletes representing Malaysia there, its vice president of sports business Lee Choong Kay shared.

“Astro Arena has sent a 36-member team to Rio, delivering 15 hours of live broadcast daily on our national athletes. I am pleased to share that even non-Astro customers can access Astro Arena on Astro On The Go,” he said.

The locally-skewed content includes Di Ambang Rio (tonight, 5pm), which brings behind-the-scenes stories of how Malaysian athletes have prepared for the Olympics; Nadi@Rio (daily, 9am), which provides analysis of the local athletes’ performances; and Pasca Rio (Aug 22, 10pm), which will recap all of their achievements.

If Datuk Lee Chong Wei makes it to the men’s single badminton final, all Malaysian eyes will definitely be on that match, which airs Aug 20, 7.25pm on Oly 5 (Astro Ch 765/HD Ch 785), to see if he can finally clinch the gold medal.

Other sporting events with Malaysian participation include diver Pandelela Rinong in the women’s 10m platform finals airing Aug 19 at 2.50am on Oly 2 (Astro Ch 762/HD Ch 782), and archers Khairul Anuar Mohamad, Mohd Akmal Nor Hasrin and Haziq Kamaruddin in the men’s archery team semi-finals and finals airing Aug 7 at 12.55am on Oly 5 (Astro Ch 765/HD Ch 785).

To subscribe to Astro’s Sports packs, visit astro.com.my for information.

advertise
advertise
advertise

top navigation

advertise