Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, which has the exclusive broadcasting rights for the IAAF World Athletics Championships Doha 2019, has not telecast the opening ceremony of the event or the start of the marathon, sport enthusiasts in the region have said.

They said the International Olympic Committee has to look into this flagrant violation of contractual obligations and take action against the channel.

When Abu Dhabi Sports Channel tries to bid for the TV rights of future sporting events, the channel will not be treated as a serious bidder, several people opined in their tweets.

"Compared to this everyone saw how BeIN Sports and Alkass channels covered the Asian Cup professionally, though the Abu Dhabi Sports Channel keep criticising the practice of selling broadcasting rights of matches as unfair. But in the present case, the Abu Dhabi Sports Channel did of course produce the TV programmes of the Doha Championships but did not broadcast them," they said.

“Abu Dhabi Sports Channel, the exclusive carrier of the world athletics championship, has not covered the opening of the championship, not even the start of the marathon so far. In their broadcast schedule you can find the timings of the marathon but on the screen you see the judo championship.”

One tweet said it is the right of all the lovers of athletics in all countries of the world to watch the World Championships through the channel which has the television rights, but depriving the fans of watching the opening ceremony is surprising and contrary to the regulations of the world championships.