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General |
Archery |
Golf |
Hockey |
Squash |
Badminton |
Equestrian |
General:
Air-conditioned buses to ply between venues.
Santiparb Tejavanija, chairman of the Administrative Committee for the Asian Games said that the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) will provide air-conditioned buses to carry the public between the three major sports venues, Muang Thong Thani Sports Complex, the Rajamangala Stadium at Hua Mark, and the Thammasat Sports Complex, Rangsit. A bus will leave every five to 15 minutes, between 5 am and 11 pm.
The BMTA will also provide special shuttle service connections between Chiang Rak Noi railway station and the Thammasat Sports Complex, and from Hua Mark railway station to the Muang Thong Thani Sports Complex. The bus will leave every five to ten minutes.
Meanwhile, Wattanachai Wannatung, committee member and assistant secretary of the Environment Development Sub-committee, said that for the first time in the Asian Games, the Olympic Council of Asia will be enforcing the "green environment". Some 700 volunteers have been recruited to ensure compliance with the Environmental Act BE2535. Environmental protection measures include garbage classification, water and electricity conservation and the reduction of non-biodegradable styrofoam boxes.
General:
North Korea will send a 317-member delegation.
North Korea will send a 317-member delegation to the 13th Asian Games. Jang Woong, North Korea's Minister of Sports and a member of the International Olympic Committee, said yesterday that it is sending a massive delegation which includes 209 athletes as a preliminary to the 2000 Sydney Olympics. North Korea did not participate in the 1994 Asiad held in Hiroshima.
Archery:
Thailand hopeful despite strong South Korea and China.
Thailand is hopeful of good performance of its archery team despite being surrounded by such talented opposition from South Korea and China.
Sanguan Kosawinta, secretary-general of the National Archery Association of Thailand (NAAT), claimed that at the preliminaries last month, the Thai women's team had stuck to their task splendidly. They finished in fourth place, despite having little chance to practise, since the range at Hua Mark was flooded.
NAAT recently invited Korean coach In Soo-chun to instruct the archers in special tactics and techniques, in addition to solving any problems that the Thais feel they have with their own performance.
"Apart from the Chinese, Japanese and Koreans, we expect Taiwan and Kazakhstan to do well. If we manage to repeat our personal records, we will have a great chance of making it to the eight-team elimination round,'' Sanguan added.
Golf:
Korea's Pak Se Ri wins LPGA tour 1998 rookie title.
Korea's Pak Se Ri, who represents the first Korean female professional golfer on the LPGA tour, won the 1998 'Rookie of the Year' title finishing her first LPGA season on a bright note. Laura Davies won the title with an 11 under par 277 total for four rounds.
Pak Se Ri posted an 8 over par, 296, to finish 24th in the 1998 Pagenet Tour Championship, the final regular LPGA event of the season.
Pak also shared the most wins honor with her archrival and world #1 Annika Sorenstam of Sweden, with four LPGA event victories each. Moreover, she finished second in the prize money ranking with US$870,000.
Hockey:
Malaysia breaks poor spell with Egypt win.
Malaysia finally broke the dismal spell by winning a match 3-1 against unranked Egypt. The Malaysians have played five matches in their tour of Egypt, two of them friendlies. They lost 6-3 in the first friendly and drew 2-2 in the second, lost the First Test 2-0 and the Second Test 1-0.
The past dismal performance was unflattering to Malaysia given that Egypt is not ranked in the Olympics and the World Cup, as compared to Malaysia which is ranked amongst the top 12 teams in the world, and was the silver medallist in the recent Commonwealth Games after beating India and losing to Australia.
Malaysian team manager Yogeswaran said that the Egyptians were good opponents as they were a hard and tough team. Malaysia would need to more if it still hopes of a medal in the forthcoming Asiad.
Squash:
Kwan Choy Lin to represent Malaysian squad.
Team Manager Mej (Rtd) S. Maniam said that the Malaysian squad will be represented by top seed Nicol David and Kwan Choy Lin. The choice of Choy Lin will however have to be endorsed by the Squash Rackets Association of Malaysia.
Nicol David recently clinched the Asian Juniors circuit grand final title in New Delhi, and is the favorite at the Asian Games. She will be challenged by Rebecca Chew of Hong Kong and veteran Mah Li Lian of Singapore. Choy Lin is the Malaysian national no. 1.
The men's team will be represented by Kenneth Low and Ong Beng Hee. Low is expected to be seeded second, while Ong may be seeded fourth.
Equestrian:
Drinking water woes at newly completed Fort Adisorn complex.
Competition grounds' manager Col Tanapon Vatanyu said that biggest problems that organisers have faced is the lack of drinking water. Water has had to be brought in from outside the fort. "We realised a few weeks ago that the underground streams and the Pa Sak River would not be able to provide enough water for the competition. Besides, it takes too long to purify the water,'' he explained.
The venue for the event will be at the newly completed Baht 70 million Fort Adisorn complex located at the compound of the Saraburi's Cavalry Centre. The complex consists of three new 60mx90m grounds -- one for competition and two for practice -- together with four 400 sqm circular grounds for warming up the horses. Six stables have also been built, for the 170 competition horses, near the Veterinary Centre.
However, equestrian athletes will not be able to stay at the venue as they have been allocated quarters in the Thammasat Sports Complex's Athletes Village about 70km away.
Thailand's dressage athlete Chuenchom Chutima will make her national debut at this Asian Games.
Badminton:
Hong Kong Open opens today.
The Hong Kong Open with a US$170,000 tournament, the richest in the Grand Prix circuit beigns today. According to draw results, it will be easy wins for the top seeds until the quarter-finals.
As drawn, Indonesian Open finalists Budi Santosa will play Malaysia's Yong Hock Kin, who is seeded second. Hock Kin is the Indonesian Open champion and world no. 3. Hock Kin will meet Taiwan champion Fung Permadi in the third round. The match to watch will be between Commonwealth champions donna Kellog-Joanne Gode against runners-up Choor Hooi Yee-Lim Pek Siah in the second round.
In the doubles, Hong Kong's Lock tin Tam-Cun Cun Harjono meet Malaysia's Chan Chong Ming-Jeremy Gan. In the mixed doubles, Hong Kong's Kwon Wa Liu-Wai chee Koon meet Chang Chong Ming-Pek siah.
Though the Hong Kong Open does not feature top shuttlers from China and Indonesia, it will be an important event serving as a preamble to the rankings and the play-off draws at the Asian Games.
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