Promotion of International School Sport Events in the Asia-Pacific Region
On 7th January 2021, the International School Sport Federation (ISF) and the Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) signed a two-year partnership agreement, which will contribute to increasing the promotion of ISF events in the Asia – Pacific region and countries through the extensive ABU members’ network. The signature of the agreement has been organised virtually between the ISF President – Mr Laurent Petrynka, the ISF Secretary General/CEO – Mr Hrvoje Custonja and the ABU Secretary General – Dr. Javad Mottaghi.
The collaboration will be implemented particularly through the broadcasting of the major ISF international school sport events such as the ISF World Schools Championships and the Gymnasiade to the Asia-Pacific audience. The ISF signed for the Non-exclusive Media & Broadcast rights for live terrestrial and for highlights and news including all moving media, online broadcast, and mobile platforms of the events. This collaboration is taking place in the framework of the preparation of the 18th ISF Gymnasiade, Jinjiang 2020 taking place in the city of Jinjiang, China from 16th to 21st October 2021. As host of the largest competitive ISF multi-sport event, Jinjiang will bring together over 3000 school student athletes from over 80 different countries to compete in 18 different sports whilst participating in a wide variety of cultural and educational activities over the course of the 7-day event. The event will mark the culmination of years of great cooperation between ISF, the 18th Gymnasiade Organising Committee and the China School Sport Federation, who have worked together in preparing this international school sport event to a very high standard.
The ISF President, Mr Laurent Petrynka said:
The ISF is delighted to begin this partnership with the ABU, providing us with a great opportunity to reach new audiences and communities interested in school sport. We are very grateful to launch this cooperation with such a major organisation, gathering with it a vast network of broadcasters and media. This will further help to promote ISF events and school sport within the Asia-Pacific as well as highlight school students from this region, participating in ISF events all over the world.
This collaboration comes at a fantastic time for the ISF, with 2021 being the year when our largest ever event, the 18th ISF Gymnasiade Jinjiang 2020 will be hosted by the Chinese city of Jinjiang from 16 to 23 October 2021. This newly founded partnership will strongly contribute to promotion within the Asia-Pacific region for this event taking place in China and for future ISF events in Asia and around the world. It will open new horizons in terms of exposure in the world of sport and greatly assist us in our mission to promote education through sport values and encourage young people to participate in sport through school.
The ABU Secretary General, Dr Javad Mottaghi said:
For the ABU, the partnership with ISF is an opportunity to help promote Sports in School campuses across Asia & the Pacific. The ABU share the ISF’s core focus of school sports as an essential and constitutive period to spread educational values to youngsters and groom them as world citizens. The ABU Sports have the required experience and the expertise working with broadcasters and sport events across Asia.
It is hoped, through this partnership the International School Sport events will gather further momentum and visibility through sports broadcasts in Asia. This is expected to help youngsters and children gain access to sport and physical education as a fundamental right. The ABU have a strong children’s programming rapport in collaboration with its member broadcasters across the continent”.
About ISF:
The International School Sport Federation (ISF) is an international non-profit sport organisation of 129 member associations/countries and is the umbrella organisation and governing body for national school sport organisations, which organises competitive and grassroots sport events for school students from 6 to 18 years old. Additionally, ISF is developing policies towards more accessible and educational school sport. This includes the implementation of youth leaders’ programmes, emphasising education through sport, developing educational programmes on Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations, and supporting the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities. With more than 30 sports in its programmes, for which partnerships have been established with the relevant international sport federations and institutions, the ISF organises four different categories of events: Multi-sport events; World Schools Championships, School Sport Cups and Educational events. The ISF coordinates more than 12 international sport and educational events each year, involving over 10.000 student-athletes.
About ABU:
The Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), spans across Asia and beyond with over 255 members in 71 countries. It works to promote the collective interest of broadcasters and media industry by facilitating regional and international co-operation & partnership. The ABU runs a wide range of services, including the daily Asiavision TV news exchange, several co-productions, program exchanges and technical, programming, legal and management consultancies, as well as industry and international conferences and an international frequency planning and coordination. The Union negotiates rights for major sports events and organises their coverage for the region. It also runs the prestigious annual ABU Prizes, TV Song and Radio Song Festivals. Keeping everyone abreast of what we do is the ABU website and the quarterly publications- ABU News and ABU Technical Review.
