German sports goods maker Puma is aiming to compete on equal terms with sector leaders Adidas and Nike, particularly in the United States, company chief executive Arne Freundt has said in remarks pre-released on Saturday. “We are the number three globally, and the gap to the larger two is shrinking,” Freundt told the Sunday edition of Germany’s Welt newspaper. “We had a difficult year in the US, and are currently number eight, but that cannot and will not remain the case. The US is not only an extremely important market; American athletes and artists influence people around the world,” Freundt…