体坛英语新闻：China's Peak to outfit Argentine basketball players, refs

BUENOS AIRES, Sept. 19 (Xinhua) -- Chinese sportswear and footwear manufacturer Peak is set to outfit three of Argentina's National Basketball League teams, as well as the referees, a league official said on Monday.

Peak's designs will be seen on Argentina's courts as the new season gets underway Thursday, said Juan Diego Garcia Squetino, La Liga's director of marketing.

According to the daily newspaper La Nacion, Garcia said the sponsorship agreement with Peak was part of a push to make basketball "the second (most popular) sport in the country, after soccer."

The deal, which officials from both sides say will be win-win, aims to raise Peak's profile abroad, while doing the same for Argentinian basketball.

"The flip side of this alliance aims to sell the National League in China," said Garcia, adding the Argentinian league aimed to copy the same successful tactic that the NBA used years ago to build a fan base there.

Following six months of negotiations, the sponsorship contract, signed in Quanzhou, calls for the growing Chinese firm to outfit Instituto de Cordoba, Atenas de Cordoba and Libertad de Sunchales, from Argentina's east-central province of Santa Fe.

The contract also calls for team and player exchanges between the two countries.

Argentina's national basketball team won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games, and boasts top players Emanuel "Manu" Ginobili, Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni and Carlos Delfino.

Peak is "the fastest growing basketball footwear company in the world," according to the company's website, and already ranks third in NBA endorsements, which include Ron Artest and Sasha Vujacic of the LA Lakers, Carl Landry of the Sacramento Kings, and six other leading players.