On the day Bill Shorten declared he would be a prime minister who would champion women's sports, he struggled to correctly name the captains of the Hockeyroos and Southern Stars.
The opposition leader on Sunday announced national television coverage of women's sport will receive a boost if federal Labor wins the election.
The ABC axed its broadcasts of women's soccer and basketball to save cash after the Abbott government hit it with a $254 million budget cut in 2014.
Labor is promising $21 million over four years to the national broadcaster to increase its coverage of women's sport by 500 live hours across television and digital platforms.
The opposition leader says the move will give women athletes the recognition they deserve.
When quizzed by a reporter to name the captain of the Hockeyroos, Diamonds and Southern Stars, Mr Shorten got 1.5 names right.
He didn't know the Hockeyroos skipper's name - for the record it's Madonna Blyth.
Mr Shorten incorrectly said Amanda Lanning heads up the women's cricket team when her first name is actually Meg.
But he knew Laura Geitz leads the Diamonds team and praised Channel 9 for signing a deal to broadcast the national netball competition next year.
Labor expects its funding commitment will go towards acquiring the rights to under-represented events such as the Women's Cricket World Cup, Hockey World Cup/Champions Trophy and Women's National Basketball League.
Mr Shorten said increasing the coverage of women's sport will help reverse pay and sponsorship inequality.
He met under 13 and 17 girls from the Canberra United soccer academy at a training session on a sports oval on Sunday morning.
Young gun Laura Hughes, 14, demonstrated her ball-handling skills, bouncing the ball on her head and juggling it on her boots.
Teammate Grace Maher, 17, aims to make it as a professional soccer player in the future and wants to play in the US and ultimately represent Australia in the senior team.
She hopes that extra televised coverage of women's sport will mean athletes won't have to juggle part-time jobs around training and competitions to supplement low pay rates.
"It's really disappointing that women players have to spend as much time (training) as the boys but they need a plan B (to pay the bills)," she told AAP.
Mr Shorten will spend Sunday afternoon preparing for his leaders' debate clash with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the National Press Club in the evening.
