(ATR) The first Asian Games to be held in the Middle East takes the 25th spot in the Around the Rings Golden 25 for 2006. For the first time in its 10-year history, the Golden 25 includes events as well as personalities in the listing of "most influential" in the year ahead for the Olympic Movement.
The outcome of the 15th Asian Games, to be held in Doha, Qatar from Dec. 1 to 15, will either feed speculation that the Olympic Games might be possible in this part of the world or put to rest the idea, regardless of the resources that a wealthy host nation can provide.
The Asian Games have been the focus of a massive construction campaign in tiny Qatar, with arenas and athlete housing built to Olympic standards. With a population of 600,000, Qatar would be the smallest-ever host of the Asian Games. The Doha games are also the first to be held in West Asia since Tehran in 1974.
Doha is expected to attract as many as 10,000 athletes from 45 nations, competing in 39 sports, the biggest Olympics-style sports event of the year.
Leading the charge in Qatar is Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, IOC member and president of the Qatar Olympic Committee. The sheikh's ambitions for Qatar as an important venue for world sport are on the line with the staging of the Asian Games.
The countdown of the Around the Rings Golden 25 for 2006 continues to Number One on January 1.
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