ESPN and TCL Unite to Create 'Born a Legend' Video Series to Inspire Global Community Through Sports

• The digital series focuses on powerful stories and the 'legend' qualities displayed by a diverse range of athletes across various sport disciplines
• Campaign spans multiple countries around the world, including Indonesia, India, Germany, Japan, Russia, Mexico and more
• First two videos feature Defia Rosmaniar, an Indonesian Taekwondo Gold Medalist and Kuldeep Yadav, India's left-arm chinaman bowler's inspirational journeys

Singapore, April 9, 2019: ESPN, the world's leading source of creative sports content and TCL, top three global television brand and leading consumer electronics company, have joined forces to share powerful stories from the world of sport through a new video series titled “Born a Legend”. Going beyond the scores, stats and the game itself, “Born a Legend” uncovers and showcases the esteemed values and traits of a wide range of athletes. Transcending boundaries of geography, gender, shape, and size, the video series features a range of athletes from a female Indonesian gold medal taekwondo fighter to a young cricketer in India ready to tackle the world stage.

The inspirational series tells stories of athletes who have grown into role models and gives a glimpse into how being a 'legend' is more than just what meets the eye. The first episode features a motivational story of Defia Rosmaniar, a female Taekwondo athlete from Indonesia who won the first gold medal for the country at the 2018 Asian Games. Defia Rosmaniar impressed the judges with her performance in spite of her father passing away a few days before the games started. The video demonstrates how a father's support for her daughter's career motivated her to become a world-class athlete and find her true self. The second episode is an inspirational journey of Kuldeep Yadav from struggling as a cricketer to becoming a global bowling sensation. The story deep-dives into Kuldeep's struggles with rejections and disappointments in the initial days and how he overcame them to get an entry into the Indian national cricket team.

The other videos will be gradually released throughout 2019 and will aim to encourage people to fight for their dreams and be the legend that they were born to be.

After a successful content collaboration with the “Inspiring Bonding Moments” series across Southeast Asia and Brazil in 2016-17, ESPN and TCL take the new series to even more places around the world, including Indonesia, India, Germany, Japan, Russia and Mexico.

Commenting on the launch, Lance Peatey, General Manager of ESPN Southeast Asia said, “We are delighted to be doing this second series with TCL after the first was so well received and widely acclaimed. The stories in this series are presented through a slightly different lens, but the common theme across both series is powerful storytelling around sport and athletes – something we really pride ourselves on at ESPN. The 'Born a Legend' series will chronicle extraordinary journeys of extraordinary people and we look forward to these videos inspiring many people around the world.”

“TCL is passionate about inspiring the global community, especially the younger generation, through sports. Our collaboration with ESPN is a creative way to encourage people to strive for excellence through sharing powerful stories about sports,” said Eileen Sun, Chief Marketing Officer, Overseas Business Group of TCL Smart Device Business Group. Each “Born a Legend” video will be approximately 4 minutes long and will be available on ESPN’s web and app platforms, ESPN Facebook, as well as TCL's official website. Additionally, fans will be able to watch behind-the-scenes footage and other content on TCL's Facebook and YouTube pages. Viewers also stand a chance of winning special gifts from the athletes through TCL's social campaigns. Further details will be announced in due course.

To view the "Born a Legend" video series, visit

  • ESPN official website: www.espn.com
  • ESPN Facebook Accounts (various)  
  • Facebook @tclelectronicsglobal
  • Twitter @ TCL_TV_Global
  • Instagram @tclelectronics
  • YouTube@TCL Electronics
  • TCL official website: www.tcl.com

About ESPN

ESPN, Inc. is the leading multinational, multimedia sports entertainment company featuring the broadest portfolio of multimedia sports assets with over 50 business entities, including 26 television networks and a variety of additional businesses that reach sports fans in more than 61 countries and territories across all seven continents. The company’s philosophy to global growth begins with its mission, to serve sports fans anytime, anywhere. It leverages world-class global technology and media platforms to deliver content and products that are locally relevant and tap into the passion and dedication of fans all over the globe.

In the Asia/Pacific Rim region, ESPN operates a diverse business that includes a broad portfolio of leading online and mobile brands and services, a leading television and digital media business in Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, and the Pacific Islands, collaborations with Sony in India, Tencent in China, TV5 in The Philippines and a minority ownership stake of J Sports in Japan, with whom it also syndicates content. Throughout South and Southeast Asia, ESPN is a growing leader in digital media with local editions of ESPN.com and the ESPN App and ESPNcricinfo website and app leading its portfolio of brands. Fans in the region log hundreds of millions of visits and billions of minutes via computers and mobile devices each month. ESPN is 80 percent owned by ABC, Inc., which is an indirect subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company. The Hearst Corporation holds a 20 percent interest in ESPN.

About TCL

TCL Electronics Holdings Limited (HKSE stock code: 01070) is one of the leading players in the global TV industry, and is engaged in the research and development, manufacturing and distribution of consumer electronic products. Through a new product-and-user-oriented business model that focuses primarily on a “double +” strategy which includes “smart + internet” and “products + services” as the main direction, TCL Electronics strives to build a comprehensive ecosystem for Smart TVs that provides users with a superior experience with its smart products and services. According to the latest IHS data, TCL was ranked second in the global TV market with a market share of 10.9% in terms of shipment volume in 2018. For more information, please visit its website: www.tcl.com.