Bangkok to hold pre-Asian Games
JAKARTA (JP): The Bangkok Asian Games Organizing Committee (BAGOC) will stage its run-through for the Asian Games this week to test its readiness to host the continent's premier sporting meet.
In a press release made available to The Jakarta Post on Monday, BAGOC said the pre-Asiad, scheduled to take place from Thursday through Saturday, would serve as the test run of the committee's operating systems and insure that they met the standard required for staging a major sports event.
"The pre-Asian Games is a very important event for us as it gives us the opportunity to fully test all our main venues and systems," said BAGOC deputy secretary-general Santiparb Tejavanija.
"In addition, it is the culmination of six years of hard work and detailed preparations that will prove that Thailand is ready and able to welcome more than 11,000 athletes and officials from 43 different countries."
The pre-Asiad will feature track and field, boxing, canoeing, cycling, soccer, gymnastics, rowing, shooting, swimming, tennis and yachting.
There will be 53 events in the 11 sports for both sexes. All the events will take place in the three modern sports complexes built in Bangkok and two provinces outside the Thai capital.
The Thammasat University Sports Complex will stage the track and field and swimming events. Built at a cost of nearly US$200 million, it is one of Asia's most modern complexes, offering high-quality venues such as the aquatic center, which was designed by the same team responsible for several facilities for the Sydney Olympics.
Hua Mark Sports Complex will be the venue for cycling and shooting competitions, both of which will take place in new stadiums built for the Games.
Boxing, gymnastics and tennis competitions will be held at the newly completed Muang Thong Thani Sports Complex.
The soccer competition will take place in Nakorn Sawan Province, about 200 kilometers north of Bangkok. It will also be venue for Group A matches comprising teams from Turkmenistan, Vietnam and South Korea.
Canoeing, rowing and yachting will be held in Chonburi province, about 60 kilometers east of Bangkok.
Bangkok will host the Asiad for the fourth time from Dec. 6 to Dec. 20. There will be 38 medal and two exhibition sports with 377 gold medals on offer.
Meanwhile, the Games organizers have prepared over 260 choices of international dishes, with an estimated 62.5 metric tons of ingredients, to feed all the participating athletes and officials during the Games.
Although some of the dishes include pork, the organizers insure that other food choices will satisfy strict Islamic conditions.
The organizers said kitchens at the Athletes' Village in Bangkok would be completely halal and would be supervised by Thailand's supreme Islamic authority. (lnt)