Get your shoes on!
BATA SHOES have delivered the shoes for the forthcoming SEA Games. Ajay Ramachandran, country manager of Bata Malaysia, presented the Power (Tiger Design) and Bata shoes to Tuanku Tan Sri Imran Ibni Almarhum Tuanku Ja’afar, president of the Olympic Council of Malaysia.
The handing over was witnessed by Datuk Seri Mohamad Norza Zakaria, the deputy president of OCM, secretary general of OCM, Datuk Low Beng Choo and Datuk Marina Chin, Chef de Mission of the Malaysian contingent to the 29th Kuala Lumpur SEA Games 2017.
Also in attendance was Datuk James Selvaraj – corporate business development manager of Bata Primavera Sdn Bhd, officials of OCM, Bata and national athletes.
Ramachandran said: “A lot of research and development was done to come up with the right shoe for the athletes and we are proud to showcase our shoes today. These shoes are exclusive for our national athletes only.
“We had presented six different designs to the ministry of sports and one of them was selected by the sports minister YB Khairy Jamaluddin.
“From now on, this will be the exclusive design of shoes for all national athletes going for the various games through the Olympic Council of Malaysia.
“The shoe has a soft nylon in 2004, when he also took bronze in the 200m.
He has the full house of Olympic 100m medals – plus a plethora of world medals including the 100m and 200m golds from 2005 – but whether it measures up to what he could have won, had he not fallen foul of the dope testers when he was a member of the now disgraced Trevor Graham stable, is a moot point.
The four years in the wilderness saw him try and fail three times to make it with an NFL team, and having lost his lucrative sponsorship deals, he had to sell his house and live in more spartan surroundings.
On his return to the track there was a lot of anger stored up – no longer the sense of fun that as a child had seen him dress up as Batman and jump on his parents’ bed with them sound asleep – but he addressed the issue just as he had his Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD). upper with a firm back counter and rubber outsole for better traction and a lightweight phylon midsole for better shock absorption. The gradient of the colours from uppers to outsole matched with our official uniform colours.
“We are very honoured to have this association and hope all National Athletes will be happy and proud to wear these Power shoes during the games.”
Ironically, as Gatlin told the New York Times last year, he saw himself still as Batman but in his role as ‘a vigilante’.
“I was too angry; it was deteriorating my character,” he told the newspaper. “I didn’t like who I had become.”
Although he has hinted he might try and push his ageing legs and body to try and make the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, realistically London may represent the last chance to be a genuine contender at a major championships – and deliver a title for his demanding sevenyear-old son Jace.
“I mean, if anything, it makes me nervous. Your son telling you, ‘you better win’,” he told US Magazine last year.
“If anyone else in the crowd is like, ‘You better win,’ I’m like, ‘I’m going to try.’ That’s why I’m here; I’m trying.
“But if my son says that, I’m trying to move mountains.” – AFP