Doha: Asian Games off to Spectacular Start in First Arab Country        

by Daijiworld News Network  Doha [SK] 

Doha, Dec 2: Thousands of athletes celebrated the opening of the Asian Games Friday in first Arab country Qatar for the largest continent representing two thirds of the world population.

Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of the State of Qatar arrived in Khalifa stadium, receiving a standing ovation from his people and visitors before hundreds of men in white thobes and white gutrahs forming the phrase "Peace Be Upon You" with sparkling fireworks in hands.

Capacity spectators of 40,000 were entertained by a performance using cutting-edge technology, telling a story about how an Ancient Qatari, named the Seeker, searched for treasures and found other parts of Asia with the help of an astrolabe. He returned with richness and handed down not only the astrolabe, but also his respect for knowledge and their own culture.

The arch-shaped huge LED screen in the stadium interacted with the performance while changing lights helped transform the field of play into ocean, desert or a world map.

For the first time in 55 years, the Asian Games has been held in an Arab country. And for the first time in Asian Games history, organizers have inked as a huge budget as 2.8 billion U.S.dollars to stage the largest ever Asian Games, which brought in more than 10,000 athletes and officials from 45 countries and regions all over Asia.

Even before the official opening of the Games, started fading away the doubts on whether a country of 11,000 square kilometers and with a population of 740,000 can make the Games a success.

Not only did the organizers comfortably house as a large number of athletes and officials as those of an modern Olympic Games as well as over 4,000 journalists from all over the world, but also impressed the visitors with the 21 state-of-art venues, redeveloped or purpose-built, for the 39 sports, 424 events, 11 more sports than the Olympic Games.

It ought to be the most mixed-cultured organizing committee in all the Asian Games as the Qataris invited games experts from at least 15 countries and regions, including Australia, Greece and Italy which all have been recent hosts to either summer Olympics or the winter versions.

Among the 3,465 organizing committee staff, about 85 percent came out of the country, working in every department of the Games, including 2000 Sydney Olympics opening ceremony artistic director David Atkins.

Atkins had promised an Olympic class opening ceremony for Doha and delivered.

"This ceremony is far more ambitious and greater in scale and scope than the Sydney ceremony," he said earlier.

"This is the most multi-cultural team I have ever assembled. There are performers from more countries than are in the games," he added.