Click image to view larger version

DOHA 2006
Ashley Mark Hammond assesses the likelihood of a triumphant return by Oman's ace athletes

December 1-15 will feature 45 participating nations, 12,000 athletes and 42 events in 39 different sports. Doha will be the largest Asian Games ever since records began from the tournaments 1951 inception date in New Delhi. It will also be the first hosting of the games in a GCC state and only its second arrival into the wider Middle Eastern regions since Iran in 1974.

All in all it seems Doha is set for some grand-scale festivities in the forthcoming weeks, but how much of this Asian celebration of sport will Oman be able to box up and bring home? The sultanate is competing in ten events overall, these are: athletics, shooting, football, beach volleyball, hockey, weightlifting, bodybuilding, sailing, triathlon and swimming. Such an array of representation might increase Oman's chances of success, you may think.

But since Oman's introduction to the games in 1984, the team have only ever chalked up three Asian Games medals. That's from Mohammed Malky's 400m gold at Beijing in 1990, his bronze in the same event four years previous to this at Seoul, and the bronze medal triumph of our 4x100m relay team back in Bangkok 1998. Admittedly, these are hardly the foundations of a sporting empire but the build up to these Asiads bring with them some previously unfelt optimism and even more historic firsts.

Athletics
Fair enough, Oman no longer has the stalwart and saviour of Omani athletics, Mohammed Malky, to up the strides as serious medal contenders, but there are faint glimmers of an heir to his throne.

Take Mohammed al Rawahi, born just a fortnight after Malky ran the Asian Record of 44.56 secs in Budapest, 1988. Although high-ranks at the Athletic Association say they believe competition at Doha to be perhaps too hard for a medal win, they are most expectant �from the new crop �of this youngster to reach the 400m final. It's a task fraught with pressure for such young shoulders, but with athletics dominating as it does, great expectations are unlikely to cease.

So it's a good job this 18 year old has a proven track record for delivering his promise. This year alone he has picked up seven gold's in 400m, 200m, and 4x100m runs. On top of this he also made the 400m semi-finals at the World Junior Championships in Beijing during August �no mean feat, given the class of competition on show.

Of course Mohammed al Rawahi is not under the spotlight alone. Oman also have a hungry squad looking to fill roles in the 100m, 200m, 400m, 4x100m and 4x400m javelin and 3000m steeplechase. From the best of these it seems the relay runners are also on form for a strong performance. "We are renowned for our relay throughout the Gulf, just like Thailand; we can't get individuals to run 10.50, but as a team we always come first, it's all in our baton exchange." Said Sheikh Soud al Rawahi, the proud chairman of Oman's Athletic Association (OAA). His OAA have just equalled their best 12 month's in a 21 year history with 27 medals in 2006 alone. This means not only are his young guns going in better prepared than ever, they are also on the boundaries of uncharted territory as regards their success rates.

Female firsts
Groundbreaking is also a trend of the female athletes. For the first time Oman is sending a women's team in Hanan Sulieman al Harrasy and Abeer Mahmood al Jabri. Hanan will compete in 100m sprint and long jump while Abeer's efforts will be centred around the 100m and 200m. A third lady will complete the Asiad-bound female trio, but she, Safia al Habsi, will be far from the stadium track representing the sailing team.

Shooting
Clay target rifleman Saleem al Nasri finished 21st in the double trap at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. Transfer this to an Asian-only contingent and Oman should be even closer to a prized top spot.

Having never won an Olympic medal, and having only ever had one representative to make the final of an Olympic event (Mohammed Malky �400m 8th in 1988's Seoul Olympics) Nasri's efforts here are actually more enormous than they at first appear.

Swimming
Oman is just taking two swimmers to Doha. 17 year old Mohammed Khaduri and 22 year old Aiman al Kulaibi, the older is considered the sultanates best, but he is still only a remote possibility for a podium place in Qatar. "To understand what their chances are now, you must look at what we have achieved over the past four years." Explained Mashar al Kassar of the Oman Swimming Association (OSA). Four years ago, Aiman had clocked 1:04:21 in the 100m backstroke. "Now we have managed to bring it down to 1:00:81. We reckon if he swims under 1:00:20, he will stand a chance," continued Kassar. Aiman will participate in his signature backstroke events �50m, 100m and 200m. Meanwhile Mohammed will have a go at the 50m freestyle.

Triathlon
An event-debut for the Asian Games, the triathlon brings with it pain and despair for another three of Oman's participants. Sulieman al Alawi, 34, Ahmed al Falahi, 24, and Sulayem al Alawi, 22, all face a 1,500m swim with a 40km bike ride and a 10km run.

Yet being the sultanates first and only tri-athletes hasn't led to complacency. "We have to be realistic in our approach. This is a first time for us and right now, we are no match for the Japanese and Kazakh athletes who have the experience and training," said Sulieman.

Bodybuilding
Due to a surge in bodybuilding's popularity within Oman, which has flourished since Muscat's hosting of the 14th Arab Men's and 10th Youth Championships in April this year, It's no surprise that the sultanate is now sending its first ever bodybuilding team over to Doha.

Five bodybuilders will go �Kamil al Mukhaini (60kg), Nasser al Maskary (65kg), Haitham al Balushi (70kg), Haji Shabaan al Balushi (75kg) and Ahmed al Harthy (80kg). All are currently pumping weights in Manila, Philippines ahead of their Asian Games campaign. The team has been in Manila for the last four months and is training under Filipino coach Michael Borenega.

Conclusion
In all reality we just don't know how Oman's contenders will fare. It only takes luck to be on the side of a participant, someone to have a good day, someone else to have a bad one, then maybe an athlete will return victorious.

There is ample quality among Oman's squads, many tales of human adversity and plentiful portrayals of sporting visionaries lighting the way. It's these factors that deserve medals. But when put alongside nations who are larger, more established and wealthier, medals are not always as certain.

Nevertheless, efforts shouldn't be ignored and any success above average should be viewed upon as a great achievement in itself for Oman, especially with the sheer talent our representatives are being pitched against.

Japan and China have traditionally dominated the Asian Games with overall medal hauls winning the competition outright for both nations. In the first eight Asiads Japan won, the six occasions that followed that went to China. No surprise then that Japan has the world's second largest economy and China is the world's most populous country.

Although a cliché, what's true is that participation counts, the beginnings of this tournament stem from an initiative between Japan, the Philippines and China, which aimed to promote unity and co-operation among the tri-nations. It's these sentiments that live on and have extended ever further through each nations incorporation into what has become today �the Asian Games. First dubbed the Far Eastern Championships when held in Manilla 1913, the games blossomed in the popularity stakes.

In 1948 Indian IOC representative Guru Dutt Sondhi proposed the idea of an Asian Games to encompass all nations and give Asia a forum in which their dominance as a continent could be shown by mutual understanding and healthy competition rather than violence. Sport under these terms started in New Delhi 1951.

55 years on, this is what counts. Winning, although welcomed, is secondary to the principles which athletes will turn out for in Oman's name.