KUALA LUMPUR: A distributor of sporting goods and equipment in Malaysia, Universal Fitness & Leisure (UFL) Sdn Bhd, are considering the possibility of re-evaluating the endorsement contracts with national athletes Nauraj Singh Randhawa and Khairul Hafiz Jantan if they fail to win any medals at the upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia.
UFL managing director, Datuk Radha Krishnan said that such actions are not without reason as UFL are disappointed with both Nauraj and Khairul Hafiz for their failure and disappointing performance at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games which took place in Gold Coast, Australia.
"Even though Khairul Hafiz is still young, we had hoped that he could have performed better by at least improving on his personal best in the 100m event, but sadly that did not happen.
“However, Khairul Hafiz’s performance as part of the national 4x100m quartet was impressive as they qualified for the final at the Carrara Stadium last week,” he said.
The national quartet of Nixson Kennedy, Jonathan Nyepa, Badrul Hisham Abdul Manap and Khairul Hafiz clocked 39.39s in the qualifying heats to place among the top eight and thus qualify for the final of the event.
"We are rather disappointed with Nauraj because he seemed to be struggling to better his personal best of 2.30m.
“In fact he dropped out early in the final after failing to clear a height of 2.21m after three attempts despite training and preparing for the Commonwealth Games from early on in Australia and Germany,” lamented Radha.
Radha met reporters after the press conference announcing that UFL have been appointed as the main distributors for outdoor activity products including camping gear and equipment for the German made brand High Pick here earlier today (Tuesday).
Therefore, Radha stressed that Nauraj and Khairul Hafiz will have to work harder and show improvement in their performances as well as win medals at the upcoming Asian Games if they want UFL to continue in sponsoring them.
"If Nauraj fails to win any medal at the Asian Games then perhaps we may not extend the endorsement contract that we have with him where he is UFL’s products ambassador, because this is his last chance to prove what a top national athlete he is despite him winning gold at the Kuala Lumpur Sea Games in August last year.”
Following this revelation, Radha did not discount the possibility of approaching other national athletes and appointing them as UFL’s product ambassadors, such as the national gymnasts following their success at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games which ended on Sunday.