Getting ready for 15th Asian Games 2006

About 15 years ago, Qatar was merely a land of immense promise and not much activity. However, thanks largely to its huge oil and gas fields, Qatar has been transformed from an outcrop of little developments to one of the richest nations in the world. Gone are the days of dusty terrains and little serenity in the country. Qatar is now a centre of business excellence in the Middle East, a land of swanky cars, high-rise buildings, plush housing schemes, shopping havens for tourists and, last but not least, the country is also the host of the second largest sporting competition after the Olympic Games —the 15th Asian Games.

Qatar is a much-admired venue for sports activities and, after attaining a fine reputation for organising top events, Doha is hosting the Asian Games in December 2006. The city already has 15 multi-discipline, fully functional, state-of-the-art sports stadiums, and it has pledged to spend nearly £1.4 billion to host more than 10,000 athletes for more than two weeks of the competition. Once the construction work is complete by March 2006, Doha will have an additional 30 new sports facilities.

The Doha Asian Games Organizing Committee (DAGOC) will be hosting the first-ever Asian Games in a Middle Eastern country. Athletes from 45 Asian countries will participate in 39 disciplines and 412 events. The Games will be given full media coverage (digitally recorded) with invaluable contributions coming from nearly 3,000 media representatives from all across the Asian continent. They will also be covered by 1,000 rights-holding broadcasters and 1,500 host broadcast staff who will be staying in the city for the duration of the Games. The DAGOC has also lined up a massive 15,000 volunteer force to ensure the smooth running of the Games.

The Doha Asian Games will be getting a helping hand from the famous David Atkins Enterprise—the group that managed the opening and closing ceremonies at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000—to light up the Doha night on 2nd December 2006.

The DAGOC has pledged to complete the Asian Games Village—on which Qatar is spending no less than £330 million— before its deadline of March 2006. After the Asian Games come to an end on 16th December 2006, the multi-purpose Games Village will be converted into a state-of-the-art hospital.

In the run-up to the Games, the DAGOC has finalised deals worth millions of dollars to manage and organise the first-ever Asian Games in the Gulf region. Doha, an unfamiliar territory not so long ago, is now on a countdown to global stardom in sports.