Introduction
The first Asian Games took place in New Dehli, India, in 1951 where 11 countries (Afghanistan, Burma, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Nepal, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Thailand) competed for honours in just six sports (athletics, aquatics, basketball, cycling, football, and weightlifting).
The top three winning nations were Japan, India, and Iran.
The Asian Games have come a long way since 1951 to become the second largest sports event in the world after the Olympic Games, comprising half the world's population. The number of female athletes has been steadily rising over the years and Qatar expects around 2000 female athletes in 2006.
[Asian Games - Roll of Honour] (1958 - 2006)
Asian Games Host Cities
1954 Manila, Philippines
1958 Tokyo, Japan
1962 Jakarta, Indonesia
1966 Bangkok, Thailand
1970 Bangkok, Thailand
1974 Tehran, Iran
1978 Bangkok, Thailand
1982 New Delhi, India
1986 Seoul, South Korea
1990 Beijing, China
1994 Hiroshima, Japan
1998 Bangkok, Thailand
2002 Busan, South Korea
2006 Doha, Qatar
2010 Guangzhou, China
15th Asian Games, Doha
December 1-15, 2006
The mascot of Asian Games 2006 is Orry, a Qatari Oryx. He is known to be a great sports lover and believed to be the friendliest of all Qatari animals. Orry sends out the message of peace, commitment and fun at the Games. Fans will find Orry hobnobbing from one stadium to another during the 15-day schedule of Asian Games 2006.
The tennis events at the Doha Asian Games will begin on December 4 and finishing on December 14. The venue for both competition and training for tennis will be the Khalifa International Tennis and Squash Complex. The tennis competition will comprise the following seven events: Men's Team, Women's Team, Men's Singles, Women's Singles, Men's Doubles, Women's Doubles, and Mixed Doubles.
Paradorn Srichaphan is the defending Asian Games men's singles champion. He defeated Korea's Lee Hyung-Taik, 7-6, 6-4, in the Busan final four years ago in Busan; while reigning Asian Championships winner, Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan, beat Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn to win the women's singles gold at the 2002 Games.
Ticket sales for the Doha Asian Games have begun on May 28, 2006. Roughly 1.4 million tickets will be available locally and abroad through authorized Qatar outlets, secure Doha 2006 website, National Olympic Committees, the Olympic Council of Asia and official Doha 2006 ticket agents. Tickets are priced anywhere between QR 5 and QR 500 (about 1.43 to 143 US dollars), depending on the nature of the event, qualifying/final sessions, etc.
Official Doha 2006 Website:www.doha-2006.com/en.
Participating Countries:
Bahrain, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China, Chinese Taipei (Taiwan), East Timor, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lebanon, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, North Korea (DPR Korea), Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Philippines, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, and Yemen.
15th Asian Games, Doha
December 1-15, 2006
Men's Team
GOLD: Korea – An Jae-Sung, Chung Hee-Seok, Jun Woong-Sun, Lee Hyung-Taik
SILVER: Japan – Satoshi Iwabuchi, Toshihide Matsui, Go Soeda, Takao Suzuki
BRONZE: Thailand – Sanchai Ratiwatana, Sonchat Ratiwatana, Paradorn Srichaphan, Danai Udomchoke
BRONZE: Chinese Taipei – Chen Ti, Lu Yen-Hsun, Wang Yeu-Tzuoo, Yi Chu-Huan
Women's Team
GOLD: Chinese Taipei – Chan Chin-Wei, Chan Yung-Jan, Chuang Chia-Jung, Hsieh Su-Wei
SILVER: India – Ankita Bhambri, Isha Lakhani, Sania Mirza, Shikha Uberoi
BRONZE: Uzbekistan – Akgul Amanmuradova, Albina Khabibulina, Iroda Tulyaganova, Dilyara Saidkhodjaeva
BRONZE: Japan – Ryoko Fuda, Akiko Morigami, Aiko Nakamura, Tomoko Yonemura
Men's Singles
GOLD: Thailand – Danai Udomchoke
SILVER: Korea – Lee Hyung-Taik
BRONZE: Philippines – Cecil Mamiit
BRONZE: Japan – Go Soeda
Men's Doubles
GOLD: India – Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi
SILVER: Thailand – Sanchai Ratiwatana/Sonchat Ratiwatana
BRONZE: Philippines – Cecil Mamiit/Eric Taino
BRONZE: Korea – Jun Woong-Sun/Kim Sun-Yong
Women's Singles
GOLD: China – Zheng Jie
SILVER: India – Sania Mirza
BRONZE: China – Li Na
BRONZE: Japan – Aiko Nakamura
Women's Doubles
GOLD: China – Zheng Jie/Yan Zi
SILVER: Chinese Taipei – Chan Yung-Jan/Chuang Chia-Jung
BRONZE: Japan – Ryoko Fuda/Tomoko Yonemura
BRONZE: China – Li Ting/Sun Tian-Tian
Mixed Doubles
GOLD: India – Leander Paes/Sania Mirza
SILVER: Japan – Satoshi Iwabuchi/Akiko Morigami
BRONZE: Chinese Taipei – Lu Yen-Hsun/Hsieh Su-Wei
BRONZE: China – Yu Xin-Yuan/Sun Tian-Tian
14th Asian Games, Busan
Sep 29-Oct 14, 2002
Men's Team
GOLD: Japan – Takahiro Terachi, Takao Suzuki, Michihisa Onoda, Thomas Shimada
SILVER: Korea – Chung Hee-Seok, Lee Hyung-Taik, Yoon Yong-Il, Kim Dong-Hyun
BRONZE: Indonesia – Suwandi Suwandi, Peter Handoyo, Tintus Arianto Wibowo
BRONZE: Uzbekistan – Dmitriy Tomashevich, Oleg Ogorodov, Vadim Kutsenko
Women's Team
GOLD: Indonesia – Wukirasih Sawondari, Wynne Prakusya, Liza Andriyani, Angelique Widjaja
SILVER: Japan – Yuka Yoshida, Saori Obata, Miho Saeki, Shinobu Asagoe
BRONZE: Korea – Chung Yang-Jin, Cho Yoon-Jeong, Jeon Mi-Ra, Choi Young-Ja
BRONZE: Chinese Taipei – Chuang Chia-Jung, Hsieh Su-Wei, Chan Chin-Wei, Janet Lee
Men's Singles
GOLD: Thailand – Paradorn Srichaphan
SILVER: Korea – Lee Hyung-Taik
BRONZE: Japan – Takao Suzuki
BRONZE: Uzbekistan – Oleg Ogorodov
Men's Doubles
GOLD: India – Leander Paes/Mahesh Bhupathi
SILVER: Korea – Lee Hyung-Taik/Chung Hee-Seok
BRONZE: India – Vishal Uppal/Mustafa Ghouse
BRONZE: Korea – Kwon Oh-Hee/Kim Dong-Hyun
Women's Singles
GOLD: Uzbekistan – Iroda Tulyaganova
SILVER: Thailand – Tamarine Tanasugarn
BRONZE: Japan – Shinobu Asagoe
BRONZE: Korea – Cho Yoon-Jeong
Women's Doubles
GOLD: Indonesia – Wynne Prakusya/Angelique Widjaja
SILVER: Korea – Choi Young-Ja/Kim Mi-Ok
BRONZE: Japan – Akiko Morigami/Saori Obata
BRONZE: Japan – Miho Saeki/Yuka Yoshida
Mixed Doubles
GOLD: Chinese Taipei – Lu Yen-Hsun/Janet Lee
SILVER: India – Mahesh Bhupathi/Manisha Malhotra
BRONZE: India – Leander Paes/Sania Mirza
BRONZE: Uzbekistan – Oleg Ogorodov/Iroda Tulyaganova
13th Asian Games, Bangkok
December 6-20, 1998
Men's Team
GOLD: Korea – Yoon Yong-Il, Lee Hyung-Taik, Kim Dong-Hyun, Song Hyeong-Keun
SILVER: Japan – Satoshi Iwabuchi, Takahiro Terachi, Michihisa Onada
BRONZE: India - Fazal Syed-Uddin, Mahesh Bhupathi, Srinath Prahlad, Nittin Kirrtane
BRONZE: Uzbekistan – Vadim Kutsenko, Oleg Ogorodov, Dmitry Tomashevich
Women's Team
GOLD: Chinese Taipei – Wang Shi-Ting, Janet Lee, Weng Tzu-Ting, Hsu Hsueh-Li
SILVER: China – Li Fang, Chen Li, Yi Jing-Qian, Li Li
BRONZE: Indonesia – Wynne Prakusya, Yayuk Basuki, Liza Andriyani
BRONZE: Japan – Yuka Yoshida, Nana Miyagi, Rika Hiraki, Haruka Inoue
Men's Singles
GOLD: Korea – Yoon Yong-Il
SILVER: Japan – Satoshi Iwabuchi
BRONZE: India – Mahesh Bhupathi
BRONZE: India – Srinath Prahlad
Men's Doubles
GOLD: Thailand – Thanakorn Srichphan/Paradorn Srichphan
SILVER: Korea – Yoon Yong-Il/Lee Hyung-Taik
BRONZE: Chinese Taipei – Chen Chih-Jung/Lin Bing-Chao
BRONZE: Japan – Michihisa Onada/Takahiro Terachi
Women's Singles
GOLD: Indonesia – Yayuk Basuki
SILVER: Thailand – Tamarine Tanasugarn
BRONZE: China – Li Fang
BRONZE: China – Yi Jing-Qian
Women's Doubles
GOLD: China – Li Fang/Chen Li
SILVER: Korea – Cho Yoon-Jeong/Park Sung-Hee
BRONZE: China – Yi Jing-Qian/Li Li
BRONZE: Japan – Rika Hiraki/Nana Miyagi
Mixed Doubles
GOLD: Japan – Satoshi Iwabuchi/Nana Miyagi
SILVER: Korea – Kim Dong-Hyun/Choi Ju-Yeon
BRONZE: China – Li Si/Li Fang
BRONZE: India – Mahesh Bhupathi/N. Vaidyanathan
Sources
Olympic Council of Asia
www.doha-2006.com