MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. Clubs of the Russia-based Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) experience problems with obtaining sports gear since a number of major international suppliers abandoned the Russian market, KHL President Alexey Morozov told TASS on Tuesday.
"All [KHL] clubs experience this problem," Morozov said. "Some clubs foresaw this situation and as far as I know many of them attempted to buy out all uniforms, which remained on the stock in stores."
"I also know that some batches of sports gear are already on their way to be delivered. The clubs work in this direction and some of them experience deficit with gloves, some with hockey sticks and some with helmets," the KHL chief added.
The Kontinental Hockey League was founded in Russia in 2008 and lists 22 professional ice hockey clubs, namely from Russia, Belarus, China and Kazakhstan.
Similar problem was expressed earlier this summer by the Russian Boxing Federation (RBF), which stated that its sports gear suppliers - Nike and Adidas - would soon pull the plug on their cooperation.
On June 23, Nike, the US-based footwear and athletic apparel producer, announced its decision to leave the Russian marketplace adding that Nike.com and Nike mobile applications will not be available in this region anymore. In May, the American multinational reported that the company would not be concluding any new agreements or renewing existing contracts with Russian partners.
Adidas announced in June that operations of its stores and online sales in Russia had been suspended until further instruction.