On the 8th local time, the Indian Olympic Committee (IOA) terminated the Olympic sponsorship contract with the Chinese brand Li Ning on the grounds of “taking care of the sentiments of its people”. This is only six days after India announced last week that Li Ning would become the official clothing sponsor of its Olympic team.
According to the “India Express” report on the 9th, the Indian Olympic Committee announced this decision in a statement on the 8th, However, it only announced its withdrawal from contracts with existing clothing sponsors, without specifically naming the Chinese brand Li Ning. The statement said, “We are well aware of the sentiments of the fans and the Indian Olympic Committee has decided to withdraw from the existing contract with the apparel sponsor. Our athletes, coaches and support staff will wear unbranded apparel (to the Tokyo Olympics).”
According to reports, when asked whether the clothing sponsor mentioned in the statement was Li Ning, Indian Olympic Committee Chairman Batra ( Narinder Batra and Secretary General Rajeev Mehta did not respond.
But obviously, this statement refers to Li Ning. At a press conference last Thursday (3rd), the Indian Olympic Committee, witnessed by Kiren Rijiju, Minister of State for Sports, announced that Li Ning would become the official clothing sponsor of the Indian Olympic team. The Indian Olympic Committee revealed at the press conference, “The official clothing colors designed by Li Ning draw inspiration from India’s national colors, combined with unique graphic designs, to show the vitality and pride of the Indian Olympic delegation.”
Judging from the statement of the Indian Olympic Committee on the 8th, the decision of the Indian Olympic Committee is in India Made under the guidance of the Sports Department. The statement added that they made the decision “to allow athletes to focus on training rather than answering questions about clothing brands.” “In fact, they (Indian athletes) have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic for the past one and a half years and we hope they do not get distracted.”
On June 9, my country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded at a regular press conference that he hoped that relevant parties in India would be objective We should treat normal cooperation between the two countries fairly and avoid politicization. </p
