Sat, Dec 09, 2006 page20

• Asian Games: Games push definition of 'sport'

  STRETCHING THINGS In an effort to see that the first Asian Games ever held in an Arab country were also the biggest, Qatar has included bodybuilding and chess

  • AP
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  The players wear the same national team uniforms as everybody else. They fought just as hard to get here. And they are doping free. Well, hopefully.

  But come on, chess? A sport?

  "Chess has been recognized as a sport since 2001 by the International Olympic Committee," said Khalifa al-Hetmi, who is president of the Qatar Chess Federation and was instrumental in seeing that it was included in this year's Asian Games.

  "The Olympic motto is swifter, higher, stronger. I would add `smarter,'" he said. "You cannot have a complete man without a brain."

  In their effort to see that the first Asian Games ever held in an Arab state were also the biggest ever, Qatar has pushed the envelope regarding what qualifies as a sport.

  While dozens of the best chess players in Asia were matching wits in a gymnasium at the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Club, Asia's best billiards players were shooting pool across town at the al-Sadd Sports Club.

  Here, pool is called one of the "cue sports."

  And then there's bowling, which is not on the Olympic sports program, but it's been a big draw here.

  The bodybuilders are here, too, though not all would agree their discipline is a sport, either.

  But al-Hetmi doesn't see a problem: "How many people can own a horse, or a gun?" he said, referring to the Olympic sports of equestrian and shooting.

  "Or how many people play golf? But chess, anyone can play. Something like 500 million people play chess all over the world," he said.

  Al-Hetmi added that now that chess is on the Asian Games list, it's just a matter of time before it makes its Olympic debut.

  "Qatar is bidding for the games in 2016 and chess is part of the bid," he said.

  Of course, bringing chess into the Olympic family is not as simple as a host city simply deciding to include it on the schedule. The International Olympic Committee has to vote on that. And being part of the program does come with responsibilities.

  Chess players are now subject to the same kind of doping tests as any other athletes here, and the higher stakes of having an Olympic gold medal on the line would increase pressure on players to use chemical boosters.

  "There are lots of drugs that chess players might use to make themselves think faster," al-Hetmi said. "I won't say what they are because I don't want teenagers to go out and start using them."

  But he did cite the use of khat.

  The khat plant, the scourge of Yemen, is known to scientists as catha edulis. Khat is illegal in many countries because it contains an amphetamine-like substance. But in the Middle Eastern nation of Yemen, chewing on the leaves from the hardy evergreen shrub is a popular pastime.

  Beginning in the early afternoon, some Yemenis spend up to eight hours a session chewing themselves into what many describe as an ecstatic trance.

  Khat isn't a stranger to sports.

  Kenyan boxer David Munyasia was barred from the Athens 2004 Olympics by the International Olympic Committee after testing positive for the banned stimulant cathine, which is found in khat.

  Someday, al-Hetmi warned, khat could become the human growth hormone of the chess world.

  "It could make you more alert, sharper," he said.

  However, he added that to date there have been no major doping scandals involving chess players.

  The debut of chess at the Asian Games hasn't been problem free.

  Miyoko Watai, team leader of the Japanese chess squad at the games, complained that her athletes -- two high school boys and a 65-year-old woman -- were not given proper training facilities in Doha.

  "They were expected to practice in a little space in a recreation area," she said. "There was music on and it was too noisy. They ended up practicing in the captain's room."

  Watai is something of a chess celebrity. President of Japan's chess federation, she is the longtime companion of chess legend Bobby Fischer,

  After a 3-0 loss to Syria on Thursday, veteran Japanese player Emiko Nakagawa -- the second-oldest athlete at the games -- said she was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

  "I've never played in an event like this that includes sports," she said.

  Nakagawa acknowledged chess is "a little different" from sports like swimming or track.
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