Bangkok to hold pre-Asian Games

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)