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General |
Drug Test |
Cash Rewards |
Bowling |
Boxing |
Football |
Shooting |
Snooker |
Badminton
General:
Saudi Arabia withdraws from Asiad.
Saudi Arabia has withdrawn from the Bangkok Asian Games citing as reasons the coming fasting month of Ramadan, the muslim religious festival which begins on the final day of Asiad and home preparation for centenary celebration. This will reduce the number of participating countries to 41 at the Bangkok Asiad.
Bhichai Rattakul, Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the Bangkok Asian Games Organising Committee (Bagoc) officials said that Thailand was disappointed by the Saudi decision since Saudi has already confirmed their attendance.
Bhichai did not comment on local reports that the withdrawal is due to further straining of the relationship between Thailand and Saudi. The first incident occurred in 1989 when a Thai stole US$20 million worth of jewellery from the Riyadh palace. The thief was captured and jailed in Thailand but only 20% of the loot was recovered. In separate incidents, three Saudi diplomats were shot dead in bangkok on the same day in 1990, while a Saudi businessman was abducted and found murdered in 1991.
Boxing:
Thai champion, Saman Sor Jatur retains WBC flyweight title.
Thai champion, Saman Sor Jatur beat Mexican, Ladislao Vasquez to retain his WBC flyweight title in an unanimous points decision after the 12 rounds bout. This is Saman's 10th title defence for the title. Watch out for Saman in the Asiad.
Football:
Thailand yet to name its squad, despite win over Nepal.
Thailand played to a 2 - 0 win over Nepal in a friedly run-up to the Asian Games. The sluggish Thai team's performance failed to satisfy team adviser Peter Withe. Withe refused to name the possible line up for Asiad. He said the player have to prove their worth before the first game. The previous friedly game between Thailand and Qutar ended in a free-for-all.
Bowling:
Malaysia names its bowling squad.
The Malaysian challenge in the men's Bowling competition will be spearheaded by the Commonwealth Games gold medallists, Kenny Ang and Beng Heng together with Alex Liew, winner of the World Youth Master title along side Daniel Lim, Vincent Low and Lai Chuen Lian.
The last time Malaysia won the bowling gold was in Bangkok in 1978 when the team presented by P. S Nathan (Dato'), Halloway Cheah, Allan Hooi, Edward Lim, J. B Koo and Hubert Lee won the five-man team gold medal.
Shooting:
Thais shooting at own cost for love of it.
The Thai skeet and trap shooters are said to be spending on their own about Bt 4,000 per day on bullets and targets for training since both the Government and the Skeet and Trap Shooting Association (SCSA) will normally give them financial support only if they can step up to international level.
The shooters even have to buy their own rifle costing above Bt100,000. The shooters say the bonus for winning the gold medal would not even cover their years of training. "We do it because we love it". Said Panomporn Bholganist, Thailand's National Skeet and Trap Coach.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian shooters led by Malaysian gold medallist in the Commonwealth Games air rifle category, Nurul Huda Baharin are back with a vengeance after missing the last Asian Games in Jakarta. The other women shooters are Roslina Bakar and Sarihati Awang. Malaysia's squad also include Emran Zakaria, who will spearhead the men's air rifle challenge, together with Vilow Kabah and Abdul Mutalib.
The competition has attracted the participation of Vietnam, India, China, Pakistan, South Korea and nations from the former Soviet Union.
Cash Rewards:
Cash rewards for gold medallists in the Asiad.
Some participating countries are offering cash rewards for their athletes who win medals in this Asian Games. The Asian Games is the largest regional sports event, and national pride is worth something. Chairat Kamnuan, vice-president of the Thailand Olympic Committee, said that setting awards for winners is an important stimulant for Asian athletes who do not have a future lined with hugh pro-football or basketball contracts, to do their very best.
The biggest prize is apparently by Singapore, which is offering S$250,000 (US$153,900) for any of its athletes who wins a gold medal. The prize for silver is S$125,000 and bronze is S$62,500. Hong Kong is offering its athletes HK$500,000 (US$63,900) for a gold medal. Malaysia is paying its athletes RM$80,000 (US$21,100) for a gold medal. South Korea is offering modest gold medal bonuses of Won 3 million (US$2,300). China is offering Yuan 4,000 (US$473) while silver and bronze fetch nothing. Kuwait is promising every gold medallist a new car. Kuwait hopes to win medals in fencing, judo, taewondo, karate, soccer, shooting and athletics.
As the host, Thailand say they cannot let the worst recession in decades affect the spirit of athletes who have been trained for years for this competition. The Thai athletes will receive Baht 1 million (US$27,000) for a gold medal. This is double what the Thai government offered in the previous Asiad.
Snooker:
Thailand banking on off-form ace James Wattana.
Thai snooker officials are banking on their off-form ace James Wattana to win medals in the snooker competition. Wattana once ranked 7th in the world, is now ranked 15th in the world. Wattana performed badly in several world ranking tournaments in England, including a beating from Scotland's Matthew Couch at the first round of Liverpool Victoria UK Championship. Couch is ranked 73rd in the world.
Snooker Association of Thailand deputy president, Sakda Rattanasuban, said that the European snooker players have developed skills to a very high level, and that Wattana will find his opponents at the Asian Games easier then the European counterparts.
The other singles favorite in the Asian Games is Hong Kong's Marco Fu. In addition to Wattana, Thailand's snooker squad includes Phaitoon Polboon, Anan Terananon, Noppadon Noppachorn and Tai Pichit. Thailand is hoping to win three gold medals in snooker and another gold in billiards through Rom Surin.
Drug Test:
Asiad implementing drug test on athletes.
Abdul-Muttaleb al-Ahmed, the director-general of the Olympic Committee of Asia said he was very much satisfied with the drug-test arrangement to be carried out on participating athletes.
Thailand has adopted the carbon isotrope ratio mass spectrometer technology (which was first used at the Nagano Winter Olympics earlier this year). The Thailand National Doping Center has listed banned substances to include stimulants, steroids, hormones and diuretics.
Several nations including host Thailand, South Korea, China and Malaysia has implemented random testing ahead of the Games. South Korea withdrew its artistic gymnastic team after four of its six members failed doping test. China is also excluding several veterans from its swimming squad for the same reason. Sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe's inclusion in the Sri Lanka squad was objected to by China for the same, but the IAAF has allowed her participation in the Asiad.
Badminton:
South Korea and China name squad.
South Korea is fielding its last Asiad veterans for the Bangkok Asian Games. The Korean Badminton Association has named Ahn Jae-Chang, Park Sung-wo, Kim dong-moon, Hwang Sung-ho, Lee Dong-soo, Yoo Yong-sung, Ha Tae-kwon and Kang Kyung-Jyin.
The Ha-Kang and Lee-Yoo double pairs are the ones to watch out for in the individual event. Lee-Yoo, the All-England champion will start as one of the favorites, while Ha and Kang qualified for the Swedish Open final and are amongst the best in world.
China has since confirmed that it will be sending former world junior champion Chen Gang (who is now suffering a shoulder injury). The others in the squad are Dong Jiong, Sun Jun, Luo Yigang, Zhang Jun-Zhang Wei, Liu Yong-Lu Zhiahoa.
Chen Gang is now at the Hong Kong Open, and will be playing in the quater-finals against Malaysia's Roslin Hashim who is the Dutch Open champion. At the Hong Kong Open, Roslin won against Indonesian George Rimaldi and upset world champion Danish Peter Rasmussen.
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