Medals will be won in five sports as action at the 15th Asian Games Doha 2002 gets underway in earnest on the first day after the Opening Ceremony.

Gold will be decided in judo, artistic gymnastics, shooting, swimming and weightlifting, with 18 sports on show overall.

Swimming heats at the Hamad Aquatic Centre begin at 10:00 with six finals in the evening session at 18:00.

The first medals will come in the women's 200m freestyle final, with qualifiers coming from three heats. The fastest entrant is Jiaying Pang of China, who has a best time of 1:59.95, just six hundredths outside the Asian record. Throughout the day there is swimming action, wiht the first final at 12:30.

Others include the men's 400m individual medley, women's 100m butterfly, women's 50m breaststroke, men's 200m butterfly and to conclude, the women's 4x400m medley relay final.

The men's gymnastic team final takes place at the Aspire Hall 2, with the countries and regions split into three groups to compete on the floor, pommel horse, rings, vault, parallel bars and horizontal bar. The first group begins at 12:00 with the final group, containing hosts Qatar and favourites China, Korea and Japan, starting at 17:30.

In judo the men's +100kg and -100kg gold medals are fought for at 19:05 while the women do battle in the -78kg and +78kg category.

At Lusaill Shooting Range, the women's trap final and men's and women's 10m air rifle final take place.

Three finals are decided in the first of five days of weightlifting at the Al-Dana Banquet Hall. Lee Jong Hoon of Korea and Li Zheng  of China will be among the favourites in the men's 56kg, the last event of the day.

Chess features for the first time in the Asian Games with the men's and women's Rapid Swiss competition starting at 11:00 at Al-Dana Indoor Hall. Indian Grand Masters Saskikiran Krishnan, Harikrishna Pentala and Humpy Koneru will be among those in action on day one.

(dohaasiangames.org December 2, 2006)