Qatar in two finals as Doha Asian Games ends today

Dinesh Weerawansa reporting from Qatar

ASIAN GAMES: The 15th edition of the Asian Games in the Qatari capital would come to an end with another scintillating closing ceremony, scheduled to be held at the Khalifa Stadium here on Friday night.

The organisers of the three-hour ceremony have kept many secrets to keep the packed stadium crowd they expect guessing. Like in the grand opening ceremony which was a treat to watch, the closing ceremony too should turn out to be an eye catching affair.

The colourful closing ceremony, which brings the curtain of the Asian version of the Olympics down after 15 days action, is expected to be a rich blend of Middle Eastern culture and modern world developments.

The Qatari organisers have assured a memorable closing ceremony to all those who throng the Kfalifa Stadium, which was also the venue for six days of exciting track and field action. "We want to make this a lifetime experience for all those who would be present there on Friday night. That is why we tagged the 15th Asian Games as the Games of your life," an official of the organising committee said today.

All in all, it has been a memorable Asian Games, at which China proved their sporting dominance and Qatar gave a high-profile account of their organisation skills.

Friday's final day action in the Games proper would include three matches. Jordan will take on Iran in the play off for the men's basketball bronze medal. This would be followed by the grand basketball finale between China and the hosts Qatar at the Doha Basketball Indoor Hall.

But the event of the Doha Games from Qatar's point of view would be the men's soccer final. A capacity crowd is expected at Al-Saad Sports Club Stadium to cheer the home team as giant-killers Qatar takes on Iraq to battle for the Asian Games soccer supremacy. With the heavyweights in Asian soccer - Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran out, hosts Qatar gets a golden opportunity to end the Asian Games on a high note.

Sri Lankans fare poorly

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan competitors continued their poor performances to the final stages of the 15th Asian Games here in the Qatari capital.

Sri Lanka's H. M. Manuranga finished 14th out of 19 competitors at the men's Nanquan three event combined Nandao in the Asian Games Wushu competition. China's Caibao Wu came first with a score of 9.80 while the Lankan lad had only 8.70.

Chamal Suranga Silva lost his men's kumite 75kg quarter final bout of the karate competition to Tajikistan's Timur Bekov 0-6 at the Qatar Sports Club Indoor Hall. Silva, who secured the eighth place in men's 70kg kumite at the Busan 2002 Asian Games, made it to the last eight after he received a bye in the pre-quarters.

There was another defeat for Sri Lanka in the karate competition. But Mohammed Nifaz Jurampathy of Sri Lanka gave his opponent from Kazakhstan Askar Baitleov a tough time before going down gallantly 2-3 in their men's 80kg kumite quarter final bout.

Lankan medallists feted by expats

Sri Lanka's medal winners at the Doha Asian Games were felicitated at a special ceremony held at Mercuri Grand Hotel this afternoon.

Sri Lankan expatriate community in Qatar took times off their busy schedules for a worthy cause to felicitate the Lankan medallists. Sprinter Susanthika Jayasinghe, who won the women's 100m silver and 200m bronze medals and the bronze medal winning men's 4 x 100m, comprising Rohan Pradeep Kumara, Rohitha Pushpakumara, Prasanna Amarasekera and Asoka Jayasundara, were given cash awards and other gifts by the organisers.

Sri Lanka's Ambassador to Qatar, S.B. Atugoda, who graced the felicitation ceremony, was a happy man as he greeted the Lankan medal winners. He wished Sri Lanka sportsmen and women every success in the meets to come. The Second Secretary of the Sri Lanka Embassy in Qatar, A.G. Abeysekera, who has many sleepless nights in looking into the needs of the Sri Lanka contingent, was also present.

Lanka checkmate Nepal

In the mixed team classical Swiss round eight of the Asian Games chess competition, Sri Lanka beat Nepal 2.5-0.5 The Lankan team comprised Athula Russell, Chinthaka Galapapathi and Yasoda Methmali.

Malaysian Beng Hee Ong qualified to play compatriot Mohammed Azlan Iskander in the men's singles squash final at Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex, winning their respective semi final games.

Ong beat Indian Saurav Ghosal 3-1 while Iskander had the better of Pakistani Mansoor Zaman 3-0 in the semi finals.

In the light heavyweight 81kg boxing final, refereed by Sri Lankan Nishantha Dharmadasa, Tajikistan's Djakhon Kurbanov out pointed South Korean Hak Sung Song to take the gold medal at the Aspire Hall. Hosts Qatar survived an exciting tussle to make their way to the men's basketball final.

In the semi-finals, Qatar recovered from a poor second quarter to edge out Iran 67-64. The other semi final saw China registering an easy 86-58 victory against Jordan at the Basketball Indoor Hall.

Double success for China

The women's soccer final at the Qatar Sports Club Stadium had a nail-biting finish. The scoreless final between Japan and North Korea could not break the deadlock even after the second extra time as referee Huijun Niu of China decided to have the penalty shootout. The Koreans are lucky to have a sweet 4-2 win at the end to take the gold medal. China took the bronze medal beating South Korea 2-0 in the play-of match.

China also emerged victorious in the women's hockey final as they took total control of the Asian Games with over 150 gold medals. After a scoreless first half, Zhen Sun struck the winning goal in the 29th minute of the second half as China beat Japan 1-0 to take the gold. India accounted for the bronze medal with a similar 1-0 victory over South Korea.

Thursday, Doha