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| November 29, 2006 | Wednesday | Ziqa'ad 7, 1427 |
Qatar looks to lasting legacy from Asian Games
DOHA, Nov 28: One glance at the Doha skyline, dominated by building cranes and gleaming new skyscrapers, and you are left in no doubt that this oil-rich Middle Eastern nation has big plans for its future. Maybe even an Olympics.
Modern Doha is virtually unrecognizable to the British administrative outpost that became the Qatar capital in the 19th century, when the country was home primarily to Bedouin tribes and coastal fishermen. That was before oil was discovered.
In the past few years, Qatar has hungrily attracted a host of major sporting events, including the US$2 million (euro1.53 million) Doha Masters golf tournament, the tennis ATP Doha Open, the Superbike World Championship and a round of the IAAF World Athletics Tour.
The Asian Games - featuring more than 10,500 athletes and officials from 45 nations competing in 39 sports - is easily 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, with a population of less than 800,000 people made up mostly of expatriate foreign workers, seems a slim chance when lined up against its larger rival bidders. But what it lacks in size, it makes up for in resources.
Qatar spent US$2.8 billion (euro2.14 billion) on preparing venues for the Asian games, including a major upgrade to the 50,000-seat Khalifa Stadium and the construction of the ASPIRE indoor sports complex, the world's largest indoor multi-sports dome.''When we started planning, we knew we had to organize the games to a very high standard,'' Doha Organizing Committee deputy director general Ahmed Abdulla Al Khulaifi told The Associated Press. ''We had to do it to an Olympic standard.
''We know there are a lot of challenges, but we also know we can very easily accept those challenges and we can fulfill them,'' Al Khulaifi said.
Doubts were cast over Doha's ability to host a major event of this scale after a U.S. State Department fact sheet warned travelers of possible shortages of beds, flights, food and strained medical facilities during the Asian Games.
Those assertions were dismissed by Al Khulaifi. ''It's not a logical statement. They talked about the accommodation, but we don't have any problems, we don't have any pressures,'' he said. ''We are receiving everyday more than 1,000 athletes, team officials or media people. We don't have any issues.''''We've had good reports on the catering, the facilities, the venues, the transport system, and everything is going in the right direction.''
Al Khulaifi said the task of organizing the Asian Games was, in many way, more difficult that an Olympics.
“We actually have bigger numbers of sports to cater for _ we have 39 and they have 28,” he said. “In terms of the athletes, we have more, because at the Asian Games there is no qualification, so any NOC (National Olympic Committee) can send any athletes they wish to compete.
“I think with the infrastructure we have put in place, and the infrastructure here in Doha, we think it would be very easy to host (the Olympics),” Al Khulaifi said —AP
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