Fortnight in Bangkok
Asian Games open Sunday with everything from archery to wushu
Posted: Saturday December 05, 1998 01:31 PM
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A young Thai Mahout rides his elephant near the start of the men's and women's marathon venue in Ayutthaya AP |
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- For cricket and American football, look
elsewhere. Just about any other sport you might think of - and some
you might not - is on display over the next two weeks in Asia's
version of the Olympics.
Although Asia's financial crisis has led to shrinking teams and
headaches for Thai organizers, there still will be some 6,000
athletes from 41 nations, competing for a total of 377 gold medals.
The first will be decided Sunday morning, in the women's
marathon, hours before King Bhumibol Adulyadej formally declares
the Asian Games open. Soccer preliminary rounds among 23 teams
already have been under way for a week.
China, which overtook Japan at the 1982 games as Asia's dominant
sports power, was a runaway winner in the 1994 games in Hiroshima,
Japan, winning 135 gold medals. The biggest rivalry is between
Japan and South Korea for second place. In 1994, South Korea won 63
golds and 179 medals in all, to 59 golds and 207 in all for Japan.
Among additions to the program this time is ballroom dancing,
labeled "dancesport," although it is just for demonstration.
Among other things, the Asian dancers will be judged on ho well
they move to a Latin American beat.
The 36 medal sports include everything from archery to
wrestling, from beach volleyball to billiards - another new
addition.
Some are strictly Asian - the tag-like spor of kabaddi, the
no-hands volleyball-type sport of sepak takraw, the Chinese martial
arts called wushu, and an Asian variant of tennis played with a
soft rubber ball. Regular tennis is also on the program.
Some events have spread from Asia - judo, karate, taekwondo.
In sports such as track and field, Asians generally lag behind.
But they have world class athletes in archery, badminton, baseball,
softball, gymnastics, shooting, squash, swimming, diving, table
tennis and weightlifting.
While some of the athletes are Thailand's neighbors in the
tropics - including the small teams from Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia
and Myanmar - the Mongolians have arrived from winter temperatures
of minus 25 Celsius (minus 13 F).
The lineup also ranges from amateur canoeists and horse riders
to professional baseball, soccer and basketball players. South
Korea's baseball team has the services of Park Chan-ho, a Los
Angeles Dodgers pitcher who won player of the month honors in July
in the U.S. National League.
For the first time at an Asian Games, the riders can bring their
own horses. Thailand is taking steps to see that no animal
illnesses are spread.
China has made strenuous efforts to avoid the scandal that arose
at the 1994 games, where 11 of its athletes, including seven
swimmers, failed drug tests. Another four were caught at the world
swimming championships in Perth, Australia, in January this year.
In the month before these games, Chinese officials said, they
carried out more than 500 drug tests. At least one athlete tested
positive, they added, but they refused to give any details.
Thai organizers have been working strenuously too, trying to
make sure everything was ready on time after a slow start that led
to threats at one point to move the games elsewhere.
Bangkok is host for the fourth time. It had to organize 14
sports in 1966, 13 in 1970 - when it stepped in after South Korea
had to withdraw as host, and 19 in 1978.
Just as it tried to accelerate preparations for the 36-sport
1998 games, Asia was hit with a financial crisis that started in
Thailand. Currency and stock values plunged, while costs and
unemployment soared.
Organizers now believe they have solved most of their problems,
and hope that spending by games visitors will help lift the
economy.
There still were last-minute bugs to be dealt with - literally.
A special team has been assigned to keep out insects that had
covered the swimming pool.
Traffic is always a problem. A bus ride from downtown to the
nearest sports complex can take 25 minutes in off hours - and more
than two hours at peak travel time.
Some teams also worry about the attractions of Bangkok night
life.
Sri Lanka has an army general, Upali Bandaratillaka, watching
over its athletes.
"Even if they want to go to shopping, one of us will accompany
them," he said.
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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