Mayanti Langer has a string of big league tournaments like the FIFA World Cup to her credit

It was once an exclusive men-only zone. But now the men in grey suits have been edged out of the screen by gorgeous young women in eye-catching outfits, who give us the latest lowdown from sporting arenas around the world in infectiously bubbly tones.

Wave the remote and follow Mayanti Langer, one of the stars of the new sporty brigade. A fast and versatile learner, Mayanti has become a familiar face presenting a string of big league sporting tournaments. So, you may have seen her on screen during the FIH Hockey World Cup and the FIFA Football World Cup.

She has also opened the batting in the studio for the ICC Cricket World Cup and hit the track running for the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. To top it all, she has just finished working long hours in the studio hosting the Olympics for ESPN Star. “I feel blessed because there is nothing above the Olympics in the sporting universe. And it was great to work with greats like Vijay Amritraj and Alan Wilkins,” she says enthusiastically.

Hit the remote again and get the latest updates from presenters Archana Vijaya and Shibani Dandekar. The lively twosome held the fort on SET Max’s Extraaa Innings T20 and added a dash of glamour to the lively action on the IPL field.

Clearly, what was once a man’s fortress is fast becoming a woman’s show ground. From cricket to football, boxing to motor sports, these women are grabbing high-profile slots as studio presenters and roving reporters.

While Shonali Nagrani likes to delve into technicalities of the sport, Archana Vijaya is happy boosting the fun quotient on the show

One veteran of the sporty female crew is Shonali Nagrani who started out as a sports anchor on Set Max for the Champion’s Trophy a few years ago. Since then, she’s taken guard at the crease for a host of cricket tournaments including the IPL and the T20 World Cup. For the last two seasons she’s hosted the IPL for Britain’s ITV (it’s IPL’s official broadcaster for the UK and Europe).

Shonali points out that she’s had to keep her eye on every ball. “The English are a nation of purists when it comes to cricket and they are not too enthusiastic about the IPL format. Hosting for them is a whole new ball game,” she says.

Let’s get one thing straight: these women weren’t hired for their sporting expertise. They were hired to add a generous splash of glamour to high-profile sporting events. The qualifications required were a high looks quotient combined with a vivacious personality.

And don’t expect to catch them on screen in a tracksuit or anything remotely sporty. Mandira Bedi, the first of the sporty women, was famous for her style statements. And the ladies who followed in her trail aren’t far behind. So, whether it’s in the studio or on the cricket pitch, they’ll be dressed to the nines in haute little numbers. But to give credit where it’s due, they’ve learnt on the job. Says Shonali: “I always make a conscious effort to get into the strategic nuances of the game, team combinations, fielding positions and everything else.”

Like any other good TV presenter, Mayanti too treats every event as a story, and enjoys learning about it as much as possible. She watches archived matches and pores through sports journals.

On a different note, there’s Lekha Washington who almost missed a chance to become an IPL presenter because she got a call for the audition on April 1 and thought it was an April Fool’s prank. She finally went on to host the first season of the IPL and later moved on to host several other sports shows. But Lekha admits that she wasn’t much of a sports enthusiast. “I hardly understood Test Cricket,” she says. Nevertheless, it was her ability to talk without inhibitions and an urge to try something new that landed her behind the presenter’s desk.

Again, Archana Vijaya is at ease with the charge that she isn’t a cricket expert. “I think my job is to boost the fun quotient and churn out interesting conversations,” says Archana, whose career as a sports presenter was kick-started by Neo Sports’s Tour Diaries, in which she accompanied India’s cricket stars on their travels across the country. Archana, incidentally, had won the first season of Get Gorgeous, the model hunt on Channel V and later veejayed for the channel.

Archana quickly graduated to host Extraaa Innings — a fun show devoted to match previews and post-match analyses — on Set Max. On the show, Archana has taken Andrew Symonds on a shopping spree and made Bret Lee belt out a song. She has even coaxed Sunny Gavaskar into doing a ramp-walk. These apart, she’s made appearances hosting Force India’s One From a Billion Hunt and MRF Rallies. Next year she will be seen hosting the i-one super series.

Or, look at Esha Hanspal, an adrenaline junkie who thrives on adventure sports. She’s worked as a journalist and a radio jockey but hasn’t looked back after making her onscreen appearance. She’s currently the face of Neo Prime and is doing a string of shows including, Sports Zone, Greatest Cricket Matches Ever Played, Tadka Mark, Dial S for Sports and more.

Blessed as they are with great looks and personalities, it would be surprising if these young ladies did not look beyond the sporting arena. And one way forward is, of course, reality shows. So, Archana and Shibani have been turning heads with their killer moves on the current season of dance reality show Jhalak Dikhhla Jaa on Colors. Then you could have caught Shonali — who was a former Miss India International — in the limelight when she did a stint in the notorious Bigg Boss house.

And Shibani was a model and singer (she formed a band DMajor with her siblings) long before she became a familiar face for sports lovers. She has hosted shows like After Hours on Zee Café, Zoom’s Let’s Design and India’s Sexiest Bachelor on Big CBS Prime.

Inevitably, some of them have their eyes on the movie world. Lekha is already a critically acclaimed actress in the south. She’ll be appearing in Raj Kumar Santoshi’s next and is also doing a cameo in a Vishal Bhardwaj film. However, she insists that she isn’t giving up sports because it gives her a degree of stability unlike the roller coaster movie world. We’ll be seeing her on the small screen again when the F1 revs into action.

Lekha Washington has turned her attention to films Pic by Joseph M.Daniel	Spontaneity is Shibani Dandekar’s mantra both on the field and in the studio

The top TV channels insist there are good reasons why women presenters have edged out men. They argue that it’s helped to draw more women viewers. Says Mautik Tolia, executive vice president, Neo Sports: “This is a natural stage in the evolution of sports broadcasting in the country. Factors like the exponential growth in the number of women following sports has made way for the prominence of women presenters.”

Aloka Guha, supervising producer, Sony Entertainment Television, points out that her channel is trying to attract a wider audience that includes students and housewives to sports programmes. Says Guha: “With Extraaa Innings we were not aiming at purists. The idea was to approach cricket from a human interest angle and explore its more buoyant side.”

Adds Guha: “Women were best suited for the role. They can speak a tongue, without intricate technicalities, more comprehensible to the average audience and are great representatives of average cricket fans in the country.” She says more than 500 girls auditioned for jobs as sports presenters in recent years.

But these great looking girls have found favour with men too. And it’s a fact that an overwhelming percentage of sports viewers are still men. The channels are particularly keen on grabbing the attention of the 18-25 age group. Says Tolia: “Female presenters have a special appeal for the male audiences. Their fan bases on the social media will attest to this fact.”

Esha Hanspal has a slightly different view. “I think the curiosity, sometimes disbelief, which arises in the minds of men when they see a woman talking about sports, sometimes works in our favour,” she says.

Yet, it isn’t an easy task for a woman to survive in the high testosterone world of sport. “The toughest part is to make people see beyond stereotypes and make them realise you are not just a pretty face,” says Archana.

When Mandira Bedi took her seat next to cricketing giants, her noodle straps were more talked about than her knowledge of the sport. Some of the presenters have an explanation for this. Says Esha: “Perhaps, there is a sense of insecurity. Women with beauty and brains have always been a threat. There is a general feeling among men that their territory is being trespassed on.” Adds Lekha: “People assume you are dumb and you have to keep proving yourself.”

Each one of them has had uncomfortable moments on screen. Shonali recalls a time when during a live chat with Barry Richards he passed a derogatory remark aimed at her. Says Shonali: “I came up with a fitting rejoinder. Ian Chappell still praises me for standing up for myself.”

There are other challenges too. They have to tackle technical glitches and also host impromptu shows when matches are stalled due to rain. And hosting live programmes in always fraught with danger. “There’s no room for error or the aid of a teleprompter. You have to think fast,” says Shibani.

Though sports shows remain Esha Hanspal’s focus area

For Mayanti, the erratic hours, the constant travelling, and the pressure of having to look great all the time are challenging. But she insists that her love of sports far surpasses any challenges. Mayanti has played football for the Super Soccer Academy in Delhi and also helped coordinate their girls’ football league. “I was often the butt of jokes for being football crazy during my school and college days,” she reminisces.

Their job has many bonuses too. Says Mayanti: “My best memories are of working with sports broadcaster John Dykes during the FIFA football world cup. I admired him when I used to watch late night football. I’d never dreamt we could be working together.”

And Archana talks about being bowled over by the Little Master. “Once I asked him how he handles the adulation, so many people looking up to him. He replied saying, ‘I am only 5-ft 6-in tall, how can anyone be looking up to me?’.”

Shibani, on the other hand, talks about Ashish Nehra’s sense of humour. “He left us in stitches the entire time this IPL season,” she says. For Esha Hanspal meeting former South African cricketer Lance Klusener was a dream come true. “ I acted like a star-struck teenager,” she admits.

There have been a few very embarrassing moments, too. A gust of wind once sent Shonali’s skirt flying up in front of the entire Sri Lankan team. “Of course, I got applause from everyone, but I was mortified,” she recalls.

But all these youngsters have recovered from minor mishaps or being star-struck very quickly. And it’s safe to say that sports television will be dominated by sparkly young women for a long time to come.