16th Asian Games in China will see a . . .

Spectacular opening

Dinesh WEERAWANSA reporting from China

The Asia's biggest sporting extravaganza the Asian Games, will start here in China with a spectacular opening ceremony which will be second to none. A tremendous volume of excitement is set to generate as the cream of Asian sportsmen and women test their skills in the 15-day Asian version of Olympics.

The 16th Asian Games, featuring 42 sports and more than 12,000 athletes, will take place from November 12 to 27.

Sri Lanka will field a strong 143-member contingent. Unlike in previous times, there are no big names such as Susanthika Jayasinghe and Damayanthi Darsha, but the young sportsmen and women are determined to make their presence felt. Sri Lanka's biggest medal prospects at the 16th Asian Games will be their athletes and golfers who have always excelled in the Asian arena.

Medal prospects

Athletes Manjula Kumara Wijesekera and Shehan Ambepitiya have been shaping well in recent times and the duo will be two of Sri Lanka's brightest medal prospects.

Mithun Perera -Golfer

Jani Chathurangani -Athlete

Shehan Ambepitiya -Athlete

Experienced golfer Mithun Perera will be the overall captain of the Sri Lanka contingent, sponsored by Singer Sri Lanka. Chef-de-Mission Prema Pinnawala has a proven track record as a sports administrator for several decades and is keen to take good care of the contingent.

The 16th Asian Games, part of the worldwide Olympic movement and governed by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), will award 3,989 medals as Games officials detail the awards ceremony for 476 events.

Being the continent which has the world's largest population, the Asian Games are the second largest sports event in the world after the Summer Olympic Games.

City flower Kapok

The medals for the 16th Asian Games take its theme from the ancient Silk Road and are a positive fusing of the Games and emblem of the OCA together with graphics depicting the Guangzhou city flower Kapok.

Featuring the OCA logo of the dancing dragon and soaring hawk, the medals also depicts the OCA's shining sun visual effect through a bowstring grain design that expresses the core elements of the 16th Asian Games-the bright sun and the delicate Red Kapok flower.

China's organizers have added more colour to each and every aspect of the Games.

Each of the award ceremony elements have been meticulously prepared to the finest details include all of the medals, certificates, flowers, awards platform, pallets and background boards used as well as specific sizes for each national flag, timed national anthems and opening award ceremony music.

The 16th Asian Games awards bouquet will consist mainly of gladiolus, red ear crown composition, plus crystal grass, blue leaf, turtle bamboo or golden bowl anise for accent decoration. There are 39 Asian Games ceremony work teams with 1,166 workers, 146 team workers, 380 awards etiquette staff, 250 flag-raising staff and 390 general volunteers.

The Games organizers spent one year searching across China for the young ladies that would participate in the award ceremonies. The search committee travelled to more than 110 universities and ultimately selected 380 individuals to become official Asian Games awards etiquette volunteers.

Flag raising

The flag raising staff come from Guangdong Armed Police Department, Guangzhou military region and Hong Kong units. When the Asian Games begin, 380 awards etiquette and 250 flag-raising staff will work together to form 23 ceremony professional volunteer teams.

China stunned the international sports world when they hosted the last summer Olympic Games in the capital Beijing two years ago. Similarly, they are making every endeavour to be superior in every aspect. Apart from their attempt to host the best ever Games ever, China will fire all cylinders to underline their sporting supremacy once more.

Top position

The hosts will try to retain its top position on the medals table with a superior performance in all disciplines. With only 24 hours to go for the Guangzhou Asian Games officially get underway, Xiao Tian, Deputy Chief of the Chinese delegation, said that despite its perennial dominance in the Asian Games, China takes the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Games 'very seriously' and hopes to fare well.

"China has won the most medals at the recent editions of the Asian Games (since 1986) and we hope to repeat that here in Guangzhou," said Xiao. A total of 35 Olympic gold medalists, including 110-metre hurdles star Liu Xiang and badminton ace Lin Dan, were among in the 1,454-member Chiense delegation.

When questioned about the number of medals Chinese athletes expect to win, Xiao said that he could not make an exact prediction. "The results of sport competitions are unpredictable, but I can tell you that we will try to surpass our performance at the last Asian Games," he said.

Four years ago when the Asian Games were last held in Doha, China garnered a total of 316 medals, including 166 gold, 87 silver and 63 bronze. Although there is little doubt China will top the Asiad medals tally once again, Xiao played down the expectations on the country's prospect in the three 'Big Ball' events, namely soccer, basketball and volleyball.

Uphill battle

"Frankly speaking, our teams in the three 'Big Ball' events face an uphill battle here," said Xiao. "But as long as they try their best and go all out in the competitions, we can accept whatever their results are."

China is focusing on the next Olympic Games in London 2012 and in order to test their sporting armory, China will make a close study of their performance at the 16th Asian Games. With the London Olympics looming, Chinese officials are placing a high level of importance on the Asian Games and are using it as a test for the Olympics.

"The Guangzhou Asian Games is a very precious chance to find our problems. We should make full use of it and get prepared for the London Olympics," said Xiao.

IGUANGZHOU, Thursday