StaffFor 2018’s Asian Games, Chinese company Li Ning was appointed the official kit supplier of the Indian contingent. In simpler terms, Li Ning manufactured the apparels that Indian sports personalities wore at the Asian Games.
So, since the responsibility was high, Li Ning should have taken extra efforts in providing comfortable clothes to our players. However, Li Ning made a big mistake. The tennis shorts that the brand created for the players did not have pockets in them.
In tennis, it is imperative for players to have shorts with pockets. That is where they keep the spare balls for service. According to IOA rules, the players cannot show support to any other brand other than the sponsor. So, the tennis players wore their own shorts with tapes to cover the logos of their personal sponsors.
Somehow, amidst all the medal happiness, this blunder by the Indian Olympic Association and Li Ning got ignored. In fact, despite a PTI report, not many news organizations picked this news.
At events like these, organizers must make sure that players don’t get any extra reason to worry. They must try to provide peace and calm for better results by the players. Hopefully, they will learn a lesson or two from this mistake and will serve our players a lot better next time.
