Asian Games opened in festive atmosphere

Asian Games opened in festive atmosphere

Novan Iman Santosa, The Jakarta Post, Busan, South Korea

A festive atmosphere filled the Busan stadium as the Busan 2002
Asian Games was officially opened by South Korean President Kim
Dae-jung on Sunday afternoon.

The Busan Asian Games Organizing Committee (BAGOC) picked A
Beautiful Meeting theme for the ceremony, emphasizing the
importance of the 14th Asiad. Not only in terms of the number of
participants but also to mark the first Asiad of the new
millennium.

In what is the largest Asiad ever held, 4,703 men and 2,011
women are competing in 38 sports for 420 gold medals.

The presence of Afghanistan, whose membership was frozen
during the Taliban regime rule, and, in particular, North Korea,
reflected the theme. It is the first time that all 43 member
countries of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) have participated.

This is North Korea's first major sporting outing in the
southern part of the peninsula after the North boycotted both the
1986 Asiad in Seoul and the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Previously,
there were only soccer friendlies held in Pyongyang and Seoul.

Also in the spotlight is Afghanistan whose membership has been
restored by the OCA following the toppling of the Taliban regime
by the U.S.-led Western forces.

The world's newest nation, the tiny East Timor, also sent a
small team to Busan although it once said it was not part of Asia
but the Southwest Pacific region instead. East Timor sporting
officials said they did not expect to win medals but were in
Korea to participate in the quadrennial sporting event.

East Timor is not yet a member but the OCA has conveyed a
special invitation to the former Indonesian province who prefer
to have their own independence amid massive support from western
countries, especially Australia.

Accompanied by music, the Nepalese team entered the stadium
first according to the hangul (Korean alphabet) followed by Dong
Timor (East Timor).

Veteran swimmer Richard Sam Bera led the Indonesian contingent
holding the red-and-white flag followed by chef de mission Rudolf
S. Warouw. Walking behind them were tennis player Peter Handoyo
and karateka Jenny Zeannet Lolong in a traditional Manado costume
while archer Gina Rahayu and tae kwon do exponent Basuki Nugroho
wore Javanese traditional dress.

The rest of the Indonesian team wore read and white suits with
white straw-hats.

The two Korean states were the last to enter the Stadium under
the Hanbando flag depicting the Korean peninsula. The stadium
roared when the two Korean contingents entered the stadium in
blue-and-white suits hand in hand waving to the spectators. Both
Koreas had the same arrangement at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

Men's handballer Hwang Seong-il of South Korea held the flag
together with North Korean women's soccer player Li Jung-hee.

The OCA flag was carried by eight former South Korean athletes
who have won medals in various world and regional sporting
events. South Korean men's tae kwon do exponent Moon Dae-sung and
women's tennis player Ryu Ji-hae read the athletes' oath while
tennis umpire Kim Nam-sook read the referee's version.

The last torch bearers were Ha Hyong-ju, 1984 Los Angeles
Olympic men's judo gold medalist, and Kee Syun-he who won the
women's judo gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics in 1992. Once the
cauldron was lit, there was another firecracker show.

The post-ceremony cultural program took its inspiration from
an ancient story of the Korean kingdom Gaya which existed 2,000
years ago. King Kim Su-ro was destined to take a wife from the
Ayodhya kingdom Huh Kwang-ok. The princess had to take a daring
journey through unfriendly seas risking her life to marry the
young king.

Busan itself is believed to be the place where both the king
and princess met and brought prosperity to their subjects.

The performance showed the diverse and rich Korean culture to
the 3.7 billion Asians across the continent.

Although the Asiad was officially opened on Sunday, some
sports began competing days before the opening ceremony.

Soccer, for example, started its qualifying round on Friday,
while basketball had its first match on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Indonesia 1 men's beach volleyball players Agus
Salim and Koko Prasetyo, and Andy Ardiansyah and Supriadi in
Indonesia 2 won against their opponents.

Indonesia 1 defeated Kazakstan 1, while Indonesia 2 beat
Bahrain 2 in their group qualifying matches.

Sending 98 athletes, Indonesia is expecting to do better than
in Bangkok in 1998 when it won just six gold medals.

The National Sports Council did not set a specific target for
medals, saying only that it hoped "to bring home more than the
six gold medals won in Bangkok."

President Megawati Soekarnoputri is expecting 15 gold medals
which some observers say is unrealistic.

Several KONI officials, however, were sure that the athletes
could bring home more than 15 gold medals.

Monday sees the possibility of Indonesian athletes winning its
first medals of the tournament.

Cyclist Tonton Susanto is among the first of the Indonesian
hopefuls to compete when he takes part in the men's 50 kilometer
individual time trial in Gijang County. Women's weightlifters
Lisa Rumbewas and Rosmainar are set to grab medals in the women's
48-kilogram weight division at the National University Gymnasium
in Pukyong.

Since it began competing at the sporting event in 1951,
Indonesia's best record is 11 golds at the Jakarta Asiad in 1962.
Since then the country's achievements have declined, with the
second best record of eight golds at the eighth Asiad in Bangkok
in 1986. Twelve years later in the same city, Indonesia won six
golds.

Meanwhile, in Gangseo Gymnasium, Chinese fencers won the first
golds of the games.

Wang Habin defeated Kim Sang-hun of South Korea 15-11 in the
men's individual foil event. The second gold medal was won in an
all-Chinese final between Zhao Gang who defeated compatriot Wang
Lei 13-11.