The Middle East is once more the center of attraction of the world. Doha, the capital city of Qatar is hosting the 15^th Asian games. 

The “pearl of gulf” will play host to about 10500 athletes & officials who will be competing in 424 events in 39 disciplines. This event is said to have approximately 300 crore viewers all around the world. Forty six Asian countries which are participating in the event shelter 2/3^rd of the world population, thus making the event second only to the one and only Olympics.   

Eight years back when Qatar was nominated to host the 15^th games many athletic giant countries raised their brows. Hence it became a matter of pride for Doha to prove themselves and now it seems they are well prepared to send the earlier critics to showers with an investment of approximately $2.8 million, they have set a perfect paradise. 

Qatar is a small peninsula bordering Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, it is considered as a cultural and geographical bridge between east and west. It has one of the fastest growing economies of the world, thanks to the world’s largest gas reserves and to add on this, its population is less than one million.           

The specially built sports complex - Aspire has already got international admiration. It is the worlds largest sports complex. The Khalifa stadium where the inauguration function is scheduled to be held has been modified to accommodate 20000 spectators at a time. Highest tower in Qatar is built to hold the games torch, which also holds five star hotels and other such exclusive facilities. The organizers claim that the inauguration function will be a grand extravaganza with no similarities in the history of Asian games. 

As usual kerala has send a strong troop of 16 athletes to represent the country of whom Anju Boby George (long jump, triple jump) is the countries brightest hope. Other members are K.M. Binu (400mts, 4x400mts relay) , Chitra Soman (200mts), Sinimol Poulose (800mts,1500mts), Vinod(decathlon), Deepthi Jose(100mts), Surekha (100mts), Jishma (400mts,4x400mts relay), Preej Sreedhar(5000mts), sreejith(4x400mts relay), Hamsa Chatholly (800,1500mts), Joseph Abraham (4x400mts relay), M.Renjith (triple jump),  Tintu Luka(400mts), N.P.Pradeep (member- Indian football team). 

Kerala has a bright athletic heritage. The 1986 Seol games brought a great surprise and pride to Indian and especially kerala athletics. Seol saw the spirit of kerala athletes when P.T. Usha bagged the four golds and one silver (gold in 200mts, 400 mtrs, 400mts hurdles, 4x400 mtrs relay and silver in100 mts) from the synthetic tracks.  

Though she had to face a tough competition from her Philippine’s opponent in the 200mts event, there was practically no challenges in other events. She won with her hands down. It was an unmatched performance by an Indian athelete. The magnitude of this achievement will be clear when you know that the whole Indian troop could only achieve only 5 golds that year.   

Another noted Malayali athlete of whom kerala is proud of T.C. Yohanan (long jumper) whose jump of 8 mts 7 cms at the Teheran games was into the history. A record which stood unbroken for a long 16 years! He was ranked 7^th at international level and was also presented with the prestigious ‘Arjuna’ award. But T.C. is a sad story, he broke his leg at the patyala camp in 1978 in an incident which compelled him to end his career at a tender age of 27.  

The first kerala woman to win an athletic gold was M.D.Valsama who fired the tracks of ’82 Delhi games in the 400mtrs. She also was a member in the Indian 4x400 mtrs relay team which won the silver then. Shiny Wilson was another Malayli with world class talent but she was the most unfortunate of them all. She missed the gold between the lips & hands distance at the 86 Seol games. She was disqualified for changing the track before the first 100 mtrs, she could not get the opportunity to capture back her dream due to marriage and personnel problems. Her tears will never be forgotten.  

2002 Busan games will be remembered by the keralites for the performance of  Bina Mol who brought back two gold medals in 800mtrs and 4x400 mtrs and a silver in 400 meters. The performance brought her the prestigious Khel Ratna award,  the highest recognition an Indian athlete can ever dream of.      

This is not the end of the list there are more such as Angel Mary Joseph who won silvers in long jump and pentathlon at the 78 Bangkok games. Mercykuttan who won silver in long jump at the ‘82 Delhi Games, Rosakutty who won silver at Bangkok and Beijing in 800 mtrs, Sarama who won bronze in 400 mtrs at Beijing and lot more and it is sure that Doha will add many more to this ever expanding list.

External link : Official website of the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006