Asian Games 2010 : Live Updates

Asian Games 2010 : Live Updates

The 2010 Asian Games are scheduled to be held in Guangzhou city of China from November 12 to 27. After a successful hosting of Olympics in 2008, the “dragon” is all set to host the second largest sporting event after the summer Olympics. The XVI Asiad will have more than 10,000 athletes from 45 Asian countries, competing for supremacy in Asia in 42 sports. A total of 476 scheduled events will be contested by athletes in these 42 sports, making it the largest event in the Games' history.

Here is a first glimpse to Asian Games 2010 :

Host City and preparations

Guangzhou - the capital of Guangdong province in China is the host city of XVI Asiad along with Foshan, Dongguan and Shanwei cities as co-host. The South Chinese city was awarded rights to host the Games on July 1, 2004 after the withdrawal of Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. Th capital is geared up for its first ever international event and a number of advancements have been made in terms of infrastructure and living. Recent opening of city's first driverless metro line and China's first inter-city subway, linking two Southern Chinese cities hosting the 2010 Asian Games is a perfect reflection of this fact.

Asian Games Venues 2010

A total of 12 competition venues have been selected to host the 42 sports in Asian Games 2010. Besides this, 27 training venues have also been selected to facilitate athletes in preparing for the final frontier. Opening ceremony will be geld at Haixinsha Island in the Pearl River.

Asian Games Live
The 15th Asiad will be broadcasted LIVE on Ten Sports every day from November 13 to November 26, 2010. The telecast will start from 7:30 am to 7:30 pm featuring mainly on sports dominated by Indian participation like boxing, badminton, tennis, table tennis, hockey, shooting, archery, football and wrestling. The telecast of opening ceremony will start at 5:15 pm on November 12 while the closing ceremony can be watched from 4:00 pm on November 27.

Asian Games Budget
The total cost of staging the Asian Games and the Asian Para Games in Guangzhou has been estimated to $17 billion.

Asian Games Highlights 2010

• Largest event is games history.
• Debut for cricket as the sport will feature in 15th Asiad at Guangzhou.
• Seoul (Korea) & Kuala Lumpur (Malyasia) withdrew from bidding of these games in 2004 making it to reach China.

India at Asian Games 2010

After a successful Commonwealth Games 2010, Indian contingent is geared for Asian Games challenge.

• In billiards, Pankaj Advani and Geet Sethi mean business.
• In athletics, Mandeep Kaur, who was part of the gold-medal winning 400m relay team is to be watched out as she aspires for another gold run.
• Discus thrower Krishna Poonia is also expected to have a shy at gold.
• Ace Indian boxer and world No 1 Vijender Singh has already stated about challenge from boxers of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
• In badminton, Saina Nehwal, Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa will have to fight hard against the hosts.
• In tennis also, the absence of big names like Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna is a worrying factor. Somdev Devbarman and Sania Mirza are the only Indian hopes for a medal in this event.
• India's most successful sport at CWG 2010 – shooting is also a concerning factor. The presence of formidable Chinese will test the metal of Indian shooters. However. The likes of Gagan Narang, Abhinav Bindra, Manavjit Singh Sandhu and Tejaswini Sawant seem to give some consolidation in this sport.
• The most disappointing fact on India's part is the absence of Indian cricket team at Asian Games. Cricket has been inducted in Asiad for the first time but BCCI refused to send their team on account of a packed schedule. Otherwise a medal would have been secured for sure.

However, respite of all these factors, India is expected to improve on its tally of 54 medals at previous Asian Games held in Doha, Qatar.

By : Saranjeet Singh