The count down to the Asian
Games has begun with the torch relay kicking off Tuesday. The 55-day relay
visits 15 countries and regions, marking the preparation for the Asia's pinnacle
sporting event.
However with less than two months to go, the Athletes Village and media
centre are not completed sparking concerns about the preparation. Despite the
setbacks, organisers are confident of success.
"I have no doubt that Qatar will do a great job of organizing the Asian Games
in two months' time," said Husain Al Musallam, director general of the Olympic
Council of Asia.
Games flags line the city's streets and a giant statue of the official mascot
"Orry", a Qatari oryx, was erected on the city's most scenic seashore line.
The Gulf country has made international headlines hosting international
conferences and seminars, in particular, the World Trade Organisation
conference. However Qatar still remains relatively unknown in the sporting world
despite hosting ATP and WTA tennis tournaments and the Athletics Grand Prix.
A total of 45 countries and regions will take part in the Asian Games and
more than 10,000 athletes and officials will converged on the tiny nation, which
boasts a population of 744,000.
Eight countries have played host to the Asian Games - Thailand hosted the
Games four times, Japan, South Korea, India two times each and China, Iran, the
Philippines and Indonesia once. Qatar will become the ninth host city and first
Arab city to hold the continental event.
The organizers have been dreaming of this moment for 20 years. According to
Abdulla Khalid Al Qahtani, director general of the Doha Asian Games Organizing
Committee (DAGOC).
"We want to put Qatar in on the map of sports through hosting the Asian
Games."
International group
Short on experience on hosting international competitions, the organizers
hired an international group of specialists with Olympic Games management
experience.
"We chose working staff based on events they have been worked on, not on
their nationality," Al Qahtani said. "We look for diversity."
Media manager Reg Gratton is one of these foreign talents and did the same
job during the 2000 Sydney Games. The idea of helping Doha is a thrill for the
Aussie with 25 years of journalistic experience. "It is an exotic place. Many
never heard of it," said the former Reuters correspondent. "I thought it was a
part of UEA (United Arab Emirates)."
Despite its low profile, Gratton believed Doha had laid down a good
foundation in preparation for the Asian Games after hosting a growing list of
sporting events.
"The facilities here are world class," he said. "It's mind blowing."
The Aspire Sports City, holding seven sports during the Asian Games, is seen
as the cream of the crop. The enormous indoor complex contains a football pitch
and an athletic arena.
Completed three years ago, it serves as a training base for young potentials
in Gulf region before the organizers turned it into one of the main venues of
the Games.
Organizers are still racing against time to finish other Games venues
including a 10000-bed Athletes' Village and the Main Media Centre (MMC), which
holds 4000 people.
"There is a challenge to finish all the works on time," confessed Gratton who
will work in the Main Press Centre during the Games.
However, he believed they would finish on schedule.
"None of them think the Athens organizers would be on time," he said. "But
they did it."
The Athletes Village cost organizers US$690 million, almost a quarter of the
total budget of running the Games, US$2.8 billion.
Mammoth budget has been embarked to improve the city's infrastructure apart
from the Games-running spending.
"We would like to push our infrastructure forward through the Asian Games,"
Al Qahtani said.
"The Games will leave a legacy to the people."
There are concerns over traffic and accommodation - the actual movement of
people and cars is likely to be too much for the Athletes' Village to handle -
however the organizers promised neither would become a problem.
"Each country has a number of beds and they will manage to solve it
(allocating among athletes)," said village operations manager Aphrodite
Moschoudi who used to work with 2004 Athens Games.
Aiming on Olympics
The organizers piled high expectations on the Games, hoping the country will
be only be remembered as a giant gas and petroleum producer.
"We want to show others that we also have sporting excellence in the Middle
East," Al Qahtani said.
"The Asian Games will also help other regional countries," he added. "They
will look at us and say `We can do it'."
The organizers are already considering hosting an Olympic Games. "2016 is a
good choice," Al Qahtani said.
