Lets see, 10 years ago Li Ning would not sponsor CHN nat team simply because its products are not good enough. 10 years ago the CHN govt was smart enough to know that its not for the best interest of both Li Ning and the CHN nat team. On one hand you have world class player and on the other you have lower quality product. How much Li Ning suppose to pay the nat team at that time? Will the sale of the rackets cover the cost? It was just does not make sense. Today is different story, as much as national pride, Li Ning has proven to many including CHN national team (which i believe has gone through a lot of testing to Li Ning) that Li Ning can produce high quality products. So i think its simply natural for Li Ning to push for the proposal and get govt support behind it. Having said that I think CHN nat team had the final say on the sponsorship.
Seems logical to me. The chinsese gvmt have financed the training of thier athletes and they use the team they've concoted to promote chinese goods. Li Ning obviously sees an oppurtunity to break into an interesting market in a big way. Governments exist to look after and help out thier people, whether they are badminton players or badminton equipment manufacturers. They've simply found a neat way of helping out both. No one criticizes the Japanese team for using Yonnex, or the Koreans for using Victor. Personally I'm against nationalism in sport, good luck to both players and may the best man win, wherever he hails from .
There's probably some kind of political policy involved also... As a poster said previousily, if LN had poor products, I'm sure they won't let them be the sponsor. LN does have alot of political support in China though, he was an ex Olympian(won gold), he was one of the sponsors for China during the last summer Olympic and he was the person the lit the torch during the opening ceremony. I don't think they'd let him light the torch unless he's pretty important to the country. Gotto remember, China is still a communist country no like some of us who're in democratic country, alot more politics are involved when it's got something to do with national teams.
