The opening ceremony of Asia's sports extravaganza begins
tonight at the Khalifa Stadium after a spectacular 50,000 km torch
relay covering 15 countries and regions.
The huge ceremony will be highlighted the lighting of the torch
and feature athletes, singers, dancers, trapeze artists and even
horses. Representatives from 45 countries and regions will enter
stage led by their flag bearers, with the ceremony expected to last
about three hours.
No specific scenes have been disclosed but a lot to be
expected.
After a one-hour pre-show, the main event, reportedly involving
more than 7,000 performers, begins at 7pm local time and is
expected to be watched by a potential worldwide audience of more
than 3 billion people.
The Asian Games, featuring more than 10,500 athletes and
officials, who are competing in 39 sports, is Doha's biggest
undertaking so far, but sports officials in Qatar consider it just
the beginning.
The Qatar Olympic Committee has already revealed plans to bid
for the 2016 Olympic Games when the IOC opens the applications
process next year.
Qatar will be up against stiff competition for the 2016 Summer
Games, including Tokyo, Madrid, New Delhi, Prague, Rio de Janeiro
and Rome. The United States may also field a candidate, most likely
Chicago or Los Angeles after San Francisco abandoned its bid
earlier this month.
Qatar spent US$2.8 billion on preparing venues for the Asian
games, including a major upgrade to the 40,000-seat Khalifa Stadium
and the construction of the Aspire indoor sports complex, the
world's largest indoor multi-sports dome.
Rumours surround Yi
The Chinese delegation is the seventh into the stadium.
Basketball sensation Yi Jianlian has been at the centre of rumours
but said he had no idea whether or not he would bear the flag for
China at the opening ceremony.
"I just read the news from the press, and I prefer not to take
it seriously since till now nobody told me such a thing," said the
19-year-old centre, who led the Guangdong club to win the Chinese
Basketball Association (CBA) league titles consecutively during the
2003-2006 seasons.
Speculations have been around before the Chinese delegation's
departure for Doha that the 2.12-metre Yi was the most promising
candidate for China's flag bearer since NBA star Yao Ming of the
Houston Rockets, who marched up with the flag in the Athens
Olympics in 2004, announced he would skip the December 1-15
Asiad.
However a senior Chinese sports official said China's flag
bearer would not have to be "tall".
"I think the flag bearer should have achieved good results in
major international tournament, like world title. Also he or she
should have good sportsmanship and look healthy and pretty," said
Cui Dalin, deputy chef-de-mission of the Chinese delegation.
"It does not make sense that a flag bearer should be a male
athlete.
"At Turin Winter Olympics, Yang Yang A was the flag bearer and I
think she totally matches what we want her to show in the
international stage."
China sent a team with an unprecedented number of rookies but
still proved too strong and leapfrogged to the top of medal
standings.
"The Asian Games are one of the biggest sports event in the
world and China is sending a large scale delegation to participate
in the Games," said Liu Peng, chef-de-mission of the delegation and
president of the State General Administration of Sports.
China has dominated the quadrennial tournament for six times in
a row since the 1982 Asian Games in New Delhi, India, and this year
is sending 647 athletes to compete in 37 out of 39 events.
"The Chinese delegation will strive to top the medals table for
the seventh time running," said Duan Shijie, deputy chef-de-mission
of the Chinese Sports Delegation and vice president of the State
General Administration of Sports.
China's first gold is likely to come from the women's trap team
event or the men's air rifle team event on Saturday.
(China Daily December 1, 2006)