As already mentioned, Kason is, or will be, part of Li Ning. Kason has been the official sponsor of Chinese National Junior team. Technically, almost all Chinese National Team players, e.g. LD, BCL, were Kason players. Presumably, Kason will be the official rackets of CHN team.
But from the pic of Chen jin's racket..i assume that it's lining's,since kason doesn't have that kind of racket.Plus..from their racket's bottom pics..different from kason.I guess lining have started making rackets for the pros..but maybe it's still in trial.
Li-ning shoes (if they haven't been posted before): http://www.bbesports.com/wzgl/ProductShow.asp?ID=603 http://www.bbesports.com/wzgl/ProductShow.asp?ID=187 http://www.bbesports.com/wzgl/ProductShow.asp?ID=609
Indeed confused. It seems to work if you copy and paste it Here's a 4th one: http://www.bbesports.com/wzgl/ProductShow.asp?ID=600 (again: just copy-paste it) Just checking the dates at the bottom, those were up back in december already so nothing new.
Well, they don't really look particularly interesting or great. It would be better if there was some description of the technology used to craft them.
I didn't notice the shoes, but after watching the All-England and the Swiss Open just about every Chinese player was still using Yonex racquets and wearing Yonex shiorts.
I think don126 meant is there any more updates - press releases, legal wrangling news, when the adverts will come out etc...
China will use Li Ning products from April 1.....Li Ning will not allow CHN team to use Yonex products from April 1...
Li Ning is upgrading his racquets and hopefully it will be done by end of this year...more premium than Kason....
Sharp eyes Since YY allowed LN shoes at AE already, maybe LN will give a grace period for YY shoes. I am surprised that they are not 100% Kason rackets, at least in practice. Even though LN may make great rackets one day, I doubt they would make the sponsorship change based on potential product development. In this case, money is really not everything. The championship is. Let's see how many YY rackets with LN/Kason logo will show up at the next few outings.
my gut feel is LN will upgrade or make new ones that mimics and replace the yonex that player's are accustom to. It's not illegal to copy certain popular yonex model's balance, weight, stiffness of a racket, and slap LN paint job on it.
Copy is OK. However, strip off the paint and repaint it is another matter. Yonex might have a x-ray machine during the WC.
I dont think LN wanna be sue by yonex for their racquets... Paying is fine is small matter but Li Ning reputation will be ruin if they really strip the paint & repaint it...
temporarily, CHN can do what wang chen does, just slap on the stringbed with a different logo. Audience wouldn't notice it, except the die hard racket freaks like us The key is visibility, like shirts & shorts, shoes which are very visible to audience and TV viewers.