FIH Partner Infostrada Sports, who will provide the Olympic News Service in Beijing, have been honored by the International Sport Press Association (AIPS) for delivering the best media services for journalists in 2007.
Infostrada Sports won the prestigious award from the world's leading press association for providing an outstanding news and results service to journalists at the 15th Asian Games in Doha, the world's largest multi-sport event after the Olympics.
Although the Doha games was held in December 2006, it was included in the 2007 award, and with 62 of the 96 votes cast by AIPS members, Infostrada Sports media services in Qatar were way ahead of those at the Wimbledon tennis championships, which was runner-up with 18 votes, and the 11th IAAF World Athletics Championships in Osaka, which came third with 16 votes.
Infostrada Sports was intimately involved in the delivery of media services for the Doha Asian Games Organising Committee (DAGOC), working along with Rushmans International, to deliver a completely outsourced media solution for the Games.
Rushmans provided the platform for the media operations in terms of working spaces, services and amenities. Infostrada Sports delivered a premium information and news solution to the media, raising the bar for all major multi-sports events.
Philip Hennemann, the founder and CEO of Infostrada Sports, thanked Patrick Furlong, Director of Broadcast and Media Services in Doha, and Media Manager Reg Gratton for their innovative approach in outsourcing media operations at the Games.
"Because of their confidence and vision, Infostrada Sports was able to take such an opportunity with both hands and contribute to a prize-winning operation," said Hennemann, who has already collected the ISEMS media services award sponsored by Sports Business International for the Doha operation.
Since then, Infostrada Sports have run the successful news service at the Rugby World Cup in France and are currently providing consulting in the planning and running of the Olympic News Service in Beijing, their fourth Olympic Games involvement as a contractor.
In Beijing, a team of 120-plus Infostrada Sports staff will help BOCOG deliver the Olympic News Service and INFO2008 to the 20,000 accredited media. Furthermore, Infostrada Sports is part of the FIH media team at the Olympic Games, World Cups and Champions Trophies.
Infostrada Sports, who acquired the renowned London sports writing agency Hayters in 2006, also provide sports news, data and multimedia content to a wide range of clients around the world, including TV stations, websites, newspapers and governing bodies such as FIFA.
The Asian Games are the world's second largest multi-sport, multi-day event after the Olympic Games, with 8,000 athletes competing in 39 sports over a 15-day period.
