Bata unveils Rimau powered shoes for M’sian contingent

KUALA LUMPUR: Bata Malaysia yesterday unveiled an exclusive shoe design inspired by the Malayan Tiger, and meant for the national contingent to the 29th SEA Games, worth more than RM300,000.

The shoes under its Power brand, were designed specially in orange and black as official shoe for the national contingent for all multisports events under the jurisdiction of Olympic Council of Malaysia (OCM) and for the 1,263 athletes and officials in Kuala Lumpur SEA Games from Aug 19-30.

Fitted with soft nylon upper with a firm back counter and rubber out sole for better traction and a lightweight phylon mid sole for better shock absorption, the shoes will be used for training, warm up and prize giving ceremony.

Its country manager, Ajay Ramachandran said, a lot of research and development was done to come up with the design, sponsored for the nat ional contingent and was not meant to be marketed.

“Before came up with the design, we talked with the OCM and got insights about the uniform’s design, We used our technology and 100 years of knowledge in shoe making to develop the shoes to match the uniform and to give comfort. Then we presented six designs to Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and he chose this design.

“The design is only for the Malaysian contingent. For the public, we will launch another eight types of designs by next week, which is something similar and has the OCM logo,” he told Bernama after the sponsorship presentation to the national contingent at Wisma OCM here, yesterday.

With 50 to 70 per cent of Bata’s business in Malaysia coming from Power, Ajay said the Swiss company intends to invest strongly in the brand to capture the middle range market by providing affordable and high quality sportswear.

Meanwhi le, OCM deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria thanked Bata Malaysia for its continuous support for the national contingent, with sponsorship worth more than RM1.5 million since 2001.

“Basically, the relationship covers three Olympics, three Asian Games, three Commonwealth Games and six SEA Games. Bata also sponsors leather shoes for the contingent,” he said.

Also present were the OCM president Tunku Tan Sri Imran Tuanku Jaafar, SEA Games chef de mission Datuk Marina Chin, and Bata Primavera Shd Bhd corporate business development manager Datuk James Selvaraj. — Bernama

Chin (standing sixth left), Mohamad Safree (standing third left), Dr Rajesh Asnani from Sarawak General Hospital (standing seventh left) posing with the athletes at Sarawak Maritime Academy here.