Sun, Dec 03, 2006 page22

• Asian Games: Games begin amid sparkling display

  OPENING SPECTACULAR Forty-thousand drums, 50,000 people and more than 10,000 athletes packed into the Khalifa Stadium to get the 15th Asian Games underway

  • AGENCIES
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  Arabian horses galloped against a shimmering backdrop of thousands of neon-lit pearls as the 15th and biggest Asian Games opened with a multimillion dollar sensory feast on Friday.

  Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa al-Thani declared open Asia's biggest ever celebration of sport during a spectacular display of fireworks, twinkling lights and traditional Asian dancing, played to the sound of 40,000 beating drums.

  The climax of a lavish ceremony came when the Emir's son Mohammed, the Qatari equestrian endurance team captain, charged up the steps of the Khalifa stadium on a pure-bred black Arab gelding to light the 50m cauldron that will burn throughout the Games.

  

  Fireworks explode over the Khalifa Stadium during the opening ceremony for the 15th Asian Games in Doha on Friday.

  PHOTO: EPA

  Bollywood star Sunidhi Chauhan and Hong Kong singer and film actor Jacky Cheung performed for the rapt crowd, while Spanish tenor Jose Carreras sang with Lebanese Magida El Roumi, one of the most popular singers in the Arab world.

  Billed "the Games of your life," the Dec. 1-15 event will be one of the biggest sporting events in history, with an estimated 10,000 athletes from 45 countries converging on the gas-rich desert state.

  Events canceled

  

  Members of Taiwan's delegation join the parade at the opening ceremony for the 15th Asian Games at the Khalifa Stadium in Doha on Friday.

  PHOTO: AFP

  Although an untimely spell of wind and rain saw some of the more daring elements canceled, the ceremony will be one to remember for Qataris, who hope the Games will serve as a springboard to hosting the 2016 Olympics.

  The Games will feature traditional Olympic sports like swimming and athletics alongside uniquely Asian contests with medals up for grabs in sepak takraw, wushu and the 4,000-year-old kabaddi.

  The theme of the ceremony was the story of a Qatari boy -- "the seeker" -- who dreamed of discovering pearls and freeing his family from hardship by becoming a pilgrim, a truth-seeker and a hero to his people.

  Troubled region

  Powerful Arabian horses galloped around the stadium as caravans and traditional dancers from Thailand, Kazakhstan, Japan, China and India twisted and twirled in a sweeping representation of several thousand years of Asian history.

  In a show of unity for a troubled region eager to place itself on the sporting map, the arrival of athletes from fellow Arab states drew the most rapturous applause from the crowd.

  Aside from the 642-strong Qatari delegation, the biggest cheers were saved for strife-torn Palestine, whose volleyball team were unable to compete because of the conflict in Gaza.

  Traditional Asian powerhouses China, South Korea and Japan brought the largest contingents and are expected to dominate the Games as they have for almost three decades.

  Sheikh Ahmad al-Fehad al-Sabah, president of the Olympic Council of Asia, told a crowd of 40,000 including Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and Syrian President Bashar Assad that the Games had come a long way since the first version in New Dehli in 1951.

  "It is now not only an excellent sporting occasion, it is a platform for peace, harmony and unity and interaction of different cultures," he said.

  Unification march

  North and South Korea marched together under a "unification" flag in the first sign of reconciliation since the North tested a nuclear weapon in October.

  The two teams marched into the Khalifa Stadium wearing blue, smiling and waving in front of a potential television audience of three billion people.

  The Koreas have marched together during the opening and closing ceremonies of an international multi-sports event seven times since the 2000 Sydney Olympics, but the nuclear test ended any hopes of a unified team in Doha.

  They have twice fielded a unified team to international events -- a world soccer championship and world table tennis championship, both in the early 1990s -- but never to one such as the Olympics or Asian Games.
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