Ceremony welcomes FISU-AIPS Young Reporters to Chengdu

Before they embark on covering the Chengdu FISU World University Games, 24 young reporters were welcomed with a ceremony at the Main Media Centre to commence their experience. 12 international participants and 12 from China each introduced themselves to attendees as part of this kickoff to the FISU-AIPS Young Reporters Programme.

This programme, first in existence at the Shenzhen 2011 FISU Games, welcomes young journalists with an opportunity to learn from each other and experienced mentors as they prepare to tell the stories and share the colour of the Summer FISU Games. FISU Secretary General and CEO Eric Saintrond spoke proudly of the programme and how well it ties to FISU’s education mandate by helping train the next generation of sports media.

Four young reporters are returning to the programme after having participated at the Lake Placid 2023 FISU Games in January and Annika Saunus, one of those, brought greetings on behalf of all participants. “I hope we all brought a lot of curiosity and excitement to Chengdu, to delve for the hidden stories of these Games, being unafraid of making mistakes, laughing about them together, because that’s what this programme is about: learning from mistakes and growing as a professional,” she said.

This start to the FISU-AIPS Young Reporters Programme provided the perfect, energetic start to what will be a busy two weeks for this talented group of 24 reporters.

Written by Doug McLean