NYU incubator-winning competitive wrestling helmet
to roll out on BATSTOI.com in November

NEW YORK – July 19, 2016 –BATS-TOI™ (Bah’tua), a startup sports technology company dedicated to improving athlete health and safety through the production of innovative consumer equipment, today announced the launch of its official website, www.BATSTOI.com, which will serve as the online home for its flagship product – the award-winning, state-of-the-art, protective wrestling helmet, The Mercado™ – that is slated to hit the market in November.

Named after its founder, sports industry entrepreneur and standout wrestler for NCAA Division I Syracuse University, Mario R. Mercado, Jr., the patent-pending helmet, a winner of the inaugural New York University (NYU) Summer Incubation Program (SIP) competition in 2012, was meticulously designed and developed over a four-year period by an elite team of biomedical and mechanical engineers as well as leading neurologists that Mercado assembled with the assistance of engineering faculty at NYU and Columbia University, respectively.

The result is a sleek, modern-looking product that meets the safety needs of the athlete by covering and protecting an unprecedented amount of the head region relative to traditional headgear models that have been worn by competitive wrestlers for decades.

“We are extremely proud and excited to unveil our web platform, which will serve as the online home to The Mercado™, to the global marketplace,” said Mercado, Jr., a 20-year veteran of the combat sports industry and recent appointee to the position of New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) Regulator by Governor Andrew Cuomo who, in April, signed the historic bill legalizing Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) competition in The Empire State.

The effectiveness of The Mercado™ was recently measured through several impact tests conducted at the renowned Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings Institute, as well as at the NYU Tandon School of Engineering, and the outcomes were compared with those produced by other models of contemporary wrestling headgear.

“Beginning with The Mercado™ helmet and the sport of wrestling,” Mercado, Jr. continued, “BATS-TOI™ is challenging, and is determined to improve safety standards in competitive sports and the overall quality of life of athletes who perform at all levels, from amateur to world-class, to professional.”

While serving a market comprised of over 50 million competitive combat sport athletes worldwide, the team at BATS-TOI™ plans to modify The Mercado™ to suit the needs of athletes who compete in other contact sports.

The Mercado™ will retail for $150, and initially be available for purchase exclusively in the BATS-TOI™ website store.