With less than two months left for the Tokyo Olympics, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) faced the challenge of delivering fresh kit and apparel for its large contingent, including around 100 athletes, a tricky issue for the country in the past.
IOA announced on Wednesday it had pulled out of its “existing contract with an apparel sponsor” without naming Chinese sports brand Li Ning with a joint statement by president Narinder Batra and secretary-general Rajeev Mehta said it was respecting the sentiment of people.
Union sports minister Kiran Rijiju tweeted on Wednesday: “Indian athletes, coaches and support staff won’t be wearing any branded apparel at Tokyo Olympics. Only ‘INDIA’ will be written in the kits of our athletes.”
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The Games begin on July 23, in just over 40 days.
Batra said on Wednesday that IOA has only acted on criticism that has followed last week’s unveiling of the Olympic kit.
“I am not going to take the name of any company or anyone, but the decision was taken only after we started to receive criticism from all quarters, including the media, following the announcement. We took this decision keeping in mind the public sentiment,” he told PTI. “The process (of finding a new sponsor) is in progress but time on our hand is very limited. We don’t want to put pressure on anyone and have them on board under duress.”
{{/usCountry}}“I am not going to take the name of any company or anyone, but the decision was taken only after we started to receive criticism from all quarters, including the media, following the announcement. We took this decision keeping in mind the public sentiment,” he told PTI. “The process (of finding a new sponsor) is in progress but time on our hand is very limited. We don’t want to put pressure on anyone and have them on board under duress.”
{{/usCountry}}Mehta said: “We are losing ₹5-6 crore by cancelling the contract with Li Ning, but we are hopeful of compensating the loss soon by getting a new sponsor.” IOA have cut ties with Sunlight Sports, exclusive distributor of Li Ning products in India. The sports ministry is said to have advised IOA not include a Chinese sponsor for the Games.
Sunlight Sports said it had accepted IOA’s decision. “We understand the current global situation and the fluctuating conditions in the country and have agreed to allow the IOA to arrange the official sports kit of the Indian Olympic team locally,” it said in a statement.
There were countrywide calls to boycott Chinese products in wake of last year’s border tension in the Ladakh region between the two armies. The Indian Premier League suspended its sponsorship with Chinese company, Vivo, for the 2020 edition. The company has been restored as the main sponsor for this year’s tournament.
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China though criticised the move. “As for the specific business cooperation, I am not aware of it,” its foreign ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin said in a media briefing in Beijing in response to a question on the issue. “We hope that the Indian side will be objective and fair in viewing our normal cooperation between the two countries rather than politicising the issue,” he added.
Tokyo-bound women race walker Priyanka Goswami hailed the decision as perfect. “We do have many Indian companies which make kits and sporting an Indian brand at Olympics would certainly make an athlete feel proud,” she said.
Athletics Federation of India’s core committee member PK Srivastava too felt wearing apparel with the name of an Indian sponsor on it would motivate athletes at Tokyo. “It would have been very humiliating if Indians sported a Chinese sponsor’s logo at the podium. I am 100% for a desi sponsor. We have much better companies making sporting apparel and if they come forward to sponsor the athletes, it would be a great gesture,” he said.