CHINESE GIANT SINA TO BE NEW MEDIA PARTNER OF 2015 LAUREUS WORLD SPORTS AWARDS

• Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony and Red Carpet arrivals to be webcast live online from Shanghai Grand Theatre
• ‘This is an exciting first and will add enormously to the reach of the event’ – says Laureus Chairman Edwin Moses
• Laureus World Sports Awards to be held in Shanghai on April 15

SHANGHAI, April 12, 2015 – China’s leading online and social networking group Sina is to be the New Media Partner of the Laureus World Sports Awards, which are being held in Shanghai on April 15.

Sina will webcast the Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony and Red Carpet arrivals live on its website and will also cover the event through social media interaction with its massive audience in China.

Sina is the largest Chinese-language web portal in the world. This is the first time parts of the Laureus World Sports Awards Ceremony have been available for viewing live online and Laureus World Sports Academy Chairman Edwin Moses said: “This is an exciting development and means for the first time we will have live streaming on a major website which will add enormously to the reach of the event.”

Sina CEO Charles Chao said: “Sina’s live webcast of the Laureus World Sports Awards Red Carpet and Ceremony demonstrate Laureus’ recognition of Sina’s platforms. I believe that with the close cooperation between Sina and Laureus, the Laureus Sports Awards will become well-popularized among digital media users in China.”

The Laureus World Sports Awards is the premier honours event on the international sporting calendar. The winners, as voted by the Laureus World Sports Academy, the ultimate sports jury, made up of 50 of the greatest sportsmen and sportswomen of all time, will be unveiled at the globally televised Awards Ceremony staged at the Shanghai Grand Theatre. The host of the event will be celebrated film and TV star Benedict Cumberbatch.

Among the sporting greats who have previously been named as winners of Laureus Awards over the last 15 years have been Usain Bolt, Sergey Bubka, Sebastian Coe, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Alex Ferguson, Lewis Hamilton, Kelly Holmes, Yao Ming, Rafael Nadal, Pelé, Steve Redgrave, Ronaldo, Michael Schumacher, Kelly Slater, Shaun White, Serena Williams, Liu Xiang and Zinedine Zidane.

The Host Partner of the 2015 Laureus World Sports Awards is Chinese textile and wool company HengYuanXiang Group (HYX), and the event will receive the strong support of the Shanghai Municipal Government.