New Delhi: The apex Indian Olympic body on Wednesday announced LI-NING as its official kitting partner for Rio Olympics Summer Games 2016. It means that the entire Indian Olympic contingent; all the Indian athletes and officials representing country in the Rio Olympics will be seen in the LI-NING kits.
For the purpose, LI-NING has produced more than 15000 items of apparels including travel kits, playing kits, shoes, Trolley bags, shoulder bags etc for more than 200 athletes and officials. In the process, the LI-NING team has already handed over travel and playing kits to the Indian athletes and officials before they departed for Rio. According to sources, LI-NING has kept in mind fabric weight and thickness to enhance performance functionality depending on their needs, while designing the kits.
In a function to mark the association, Mr. Rajeev Mehta, Secretary General Indian Olympic Association said “I would like to welcome LI-NING on board as our kitting partner. They have done a great job in delivering good quality kits to our athletes. The excellent quality of kits will add confidence in our athletes while they compete in this mega event beginning from 5 August. I am sure our athletes will comeback with more medals this time.”
Speaking about the association, Mr. Mahender Kapoor, MD Sunlight Sports Pvt. Ltd. (Exclusive distributors for Li-Ning in India) said “We believe that the quality of the product matters a lot, we have provided best apparels of international standards to our Indian athletes and officials for Rio Olympics. While providing kits to the athletes there are a lot of things to keep in mind, so that they feel confident when wearing the kit We want them to perform well and bring back more medals this time. This partnership is just a beginning for us, we are looking at a long term association with the Indian Olympic Association and Indian sports”.
The company, LI-NING, is founded by Mr. Li-Ning, a former Chinese Olympic Gymnast in 1990. The company is one of the leading sports brand, mainly providing sporting goods including footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for professional for the sports such as Badminton, Tennis, Basketball, Running, Soccer, Sportslife etc. They have now extended their sponsorship by joining hands with IOA, which is sending out the biggest contingent from India this year in the Olympics. All the athletes will be seen wearing Li-Ning kits while in Rio.