Emerging nations

With sailing rapidly gaining in popularity in this region, we take a look at the competition at the Asian Games

The Asian Games are due to begin next week - 5 December - in Doha, Qatar. This event is very significant in the Asian sporting world being roughly the equivalent of the Commonwealth Games in the UK.

The sailing competition at the 15th Asian Games will take place from Doha Sailing Club where extensive renovations and improvements have been made to bring the facilities up to top international standards. Doha Bay and the Corniche will provide the backdrop for the 13 sailing events. The club, located at the south end of Doha Bay, is affiliated with the ISAF and stages regular racing between September and June.

Sailing has been a part of the Asian Games since the sixth time the event was held in 1990 in Bangkok, Thailand. The format is very similar to that of the Olympic Games and it is clear the Asian countries see this as a kind of home Olympics. However there are significant differences to the 'main' event. For example there are classes included strictly for youth sailors, such as the Optimist, where competitors must be born after 1990 (ie an age limit of 16.) The classes for adults are also different and focus on smaller, less powerful boats.

The boats included in the Asian Games are:

Men - Women
2 Persons: International 420 - 2 Persons: International 420
2 Persons: International 470 - 2 Persons: International 470
1 Person: Mistral Light - 1 Person: Mistral
1 Person: Mistral Heavy - N/A
1 Person: International Optimist - 1 Person: International Optimist
1 Person: International Laser Standard - N/A

Open: 1 Person: Laser 4.7
Open: 1 Person: International Laser Radial
Open: 2 Persons: Multihull (Hobie 16)
Open: Match Racing in Beneteau First
Class 7.5: 4 or 5 Persons with
Maximum total weight of 350kg

What is particularly interesting about these classes is the selection of some of the open classes in the event. For example it will be fascinating to see if men and women are able to compete on equal terms in a Laser 4.7 or a Laser Radial. The prospect of more women racing men or vice versa is one that raised recently at the ISAF Annual Conference. It is possible events like the Asian Games could help us to see how feasible this competition could be, particularly as everyone tries to second guess ISAF's choice of which class they will drop from the Olympic stage for 2012.

Although the entry list does not contain a wealth of well known sailing names to the western world there are a handful of sailors who stand out and with the growth in interest in sailing occurring at an exponential rate throughout Asia and particularly with the 2008 Olympiad taking place in China we can expect many more sailors from here to set foot on the international stage from this area.

At the Asian Games, Laser Radial World Champion Lijia Xu (CHN) looks set to be the star of the show following a highly successful year on the international circuit. Xu, who modestly still names her hero as world number three ranked Radial sailor Paige Railey, will be looking to add an Asian Games medal to her list of victories that include back to back Optimist World Championship wins on 2002 and 2003. It will be interesting to watch Xu battle it out against some of the less well know male names in the Radial fleet to see who comes out on top.

A pair of sailors who have shown potential this year are Koreans Daeyoung Kim and Sungahn Jung, who go into the event as Asian Sailing Champions after winning the Asian Sailing Championships (not to be confused with the medal for sailing at the Asian Games being battled for next week.) Although not always at the top of the medal table in international competition, this pair had a fantastic Test Event in Qingdao, finishing a close second overall. With conditions likely to be light throughout the event - the prediction is for no more than seven knots - they will be a hard team to beat in the men’s 470 division.

There are very few genuine favorites to win any of the classes but this is part of what makes sailing in the Asian Games so exciting. With the sport slowly become more common throughout the Asian countries it is less a case of looking at who is going to win a medal at this regatta and more a case of seeing who might be winning medals on the international stage in the future. With the inclusion of some youth classes we may even be seeing names for the first time here that we will go on to hear over and over again in future events.

Sailing for all classes is due to start on tuesday 5 December and continues untill wednesday 13 December.

Entry List:

Name	Nationality	Gender
AHMED ABDULLA Omar	BRN	Male
AL DOSARI Mohanna	BRN	Male
ALMAHMEED Abdulaziz	BRN	Male
JANAHI Abdulla Mohd	BRN	Male
JANAHI Mustafa	BRN	Male
KOOHEJI Sami	BRN	Male
SADEQ Ebrahim Abdulla	BRN	Male
SADIQ Abdulrahim Abdulla	BRN	Male
SHOWAITER Sameer	BRN	Male
CHEN Lina	CHN	Female
WEN Yimei	CHN	Female
XU Lijia	CHN	Female
YU Chunyan	CHN	Female
ZHANG Lihua	CHN	Female
DENG Daokun	CHN	Male
NI Wei	CHN	Male
SHEN Sheng	CHN	Male
WANG Weidong	CHN	Male
YANG Shuai	CHN	Male
YAO Xinhao	CHN	Male
ZENG Xiaohong	CHN	Male
ZHOU Bolin	CHN	Male
CHAN Wai Kei	HKG	Female
LO Kin Yee	HKG	Female
CHAN King Yin	HKG	Male
HO Chi Ho	HKG	Male
SAKAI Isamu Kendal	HKG	Male
TONG Yui Shing	HKG	Male
TSE Bryan Pak Yun	HKG	Male
SUBAGIASA I Gede	INA	Male
SULAKSANA I Gusti Made Oka	INA	Male
ARVIND Amit	IND	Male
BAMBOAT Xerxes Sheri	IND	Male
CHAUHAN Sanjeev	IND	Male
CHOUDHARY Rajesh	IND	Male
DHAS Hemraj	IND	Male
KAPILA Vikas	IND	Male
MONGIA Nitin	IND	Male
PATEL Kamlesh	IND	Male
RAMCHANDRAN Mahesh	IND	Male
TARAPORE Farokh	IND	Male
YADAV Girdhari	IND	Male
KAMATA Naoko	JPN	Female
KOMIYA Haruka	JPN	Female
KONDO Ai	JPN	Female
ONISHI Fujiko	JPN	Female
TAKAHASHI Yumi	JPN	Female
TSUGAYA Kae	JPN	Female
FURUYA Shingen	JPN	Male
IIJIMA Yoichi	JPN	Male
IITSUKA Shibuki	JPN	Male
ISOZAKI Tetsuya	JPN	Male
NAKAMURA Kenichi	JPN	Male
YAMADA Kan	JPN	Male
DALAKOV Magomet	KAZ	Male
DARIGUL Galymzhan	KAZ	Male
JANGAZOV Ruslan	KAZ	Male
SESSOROV Alexey	KAZ	Male
LEE Gyeongjin	KOR	Female
SHIN Jihyun	KOR	Female
BANG Kyungjae	KOR	Male
JUNG Sungahn	KOR	Male
KIM Daeyoung	KOR	Male
KIM Hokon	KOR	Male
KIM Hyeongtae	KOR	Male
KIM Jangnam	KOR	Male
KIM Jongseung	KOR	Male
KIM Joonsik	KOR	Male
KIM Sangkyu	KOR	Male
KIM Sangsuk	KOR	Male
KIM Taejung	KOR	Male
MOON Chang Sung	KOR	Male
PARK Kyutae	KOR	Male
PARK Minhyeo	KOR	Male
SUNG Changil	KOR	Male
YOON Cheul	KOR	Male
ABDULSALAM Sami	KUW	Male
ALFAHAD Salem	KUW	Male
ALHADAH Nayef	KUW	Male
ALHAMDAN Mohammad	KUW	Male
ALKANDARI Abdulaziz	KUW	Male
ALQABANDI Khalid	KUW	Male
ANUAR Nurul Elia	MAS	Female
TAN Rufina Hong Mui	MAS	Female
DERMAWAN Hazwan Hazim	MAS	Male
LIM Chern Wei	MAS	Male
LIM Kevin Leong Keat	MAS	Male
MUHAMAD Mohd Romzi	MAS	Male
YAHAYA Faizani	MAS	Male
AUNG Zin April	MYA	Female
SAN Nwe Nwe	MYA	Female
SU Chit	MYA	Female
WAI Su Sandar	MYA	Female
HEIN Sai Pyae Sone	MYA	Male
KYAW Nay La	MYA	Male
MIN Min	MYA	Male
THU Aung Myin	MYA	Male
AL HABSI Safyia	OMA	Female
AL-RIYAMI Fasial Ahmed	OMA	Male
ALYAHYAEI Rashid	OMA	Male
MASOOD Ujala	PAK	Female
MIR MASOOD Ghazal	PAK	Female
SAHR Maria	PAK	Female
ABDUL Hameed	PAK	Male
BABUR Sabahat Ullah	PAK	Male
BAYRAM AVARI Xerxes	PAK	Male
IQBAL Ashfaq	PAK	Male
MUHAMMAD Abdur Rehman	PAK	Male
NAWAZ Aamir	PAK	Male
RAFIQ Mahboob	PAK	Male
SADIQ Mamoon	PAK	Male
YOUSAF Muhammad	PAK	Male
ZAHID Rauf	PAK	Male
BALLADARES Ridgely	PHI	Male
CHAVEZ Rommel	PHI	Male
MORENO Reneric	PHI	Male
PAZ German	PHI	Male
SHOUHDY Alaa	QAT	Female
AHMED Amro	QAT	Male
AL BAKER Hassan	QAT	Male
AL HAMMADI Khalid	QAT	Male
AL SAFRAN Ali	QAT	Male
AL SHARASHANI Hussain	QAT	Male
AL SHARSHANI Waleed	QAT	Male
AL TAMIMI Abdulla	QAT	Male
AL TAMIMI Ali	QAT	Male
AL TAMIMI Hassan	QAT	Male
AL ZAINI Mohammed	QAT	Male
AL-BRIKI Saleh	QAT	Male
BU SHAWARIB Ebrahim	QAT	Male
SHOUHDY Amro	QAT	Male
KHNG Griselda	SIN	Female
LIM Tze Ting	SIN	Female
TAN Li Yong Elisabeth	SIN	Female
TAN Sarah Wei Lin	SIN	Female
TOH Liying	SIN	Female
CHENG Feng Yuan	SIN	Male
CHENG Xinru	SIN	Male
CHUNG Pei Quan	SIN	Male
HUANG Jingjie	SIN	Male
KOH Seng Leong	SIN	Male
KOH Terence	SIN	Male
LEE Sean Teik Ren	SIN	Male
LIU Xiaman	SIN	Male
SOH Khyan Tat Maximilian	SIN	Male
TAN Ivan Hsiao Loong	SIN	Male
TAY Junhao	SIN	Male
TAY Renfred	SIN	Male
TEO Wee Chin	SIN	Male
WONG Ming Ho Justin	SIN	Male
XU Yuan Zhen	SIN	Male
JIRASINGHA Radeeka	SRI	Female
DE ALWIS GOONAWARDENA Devin	SRI	Male
DE SILVA Upulpriyantha	SRI	Male
GUNAWARDENE Priyantha	SRI	Male
JIRASINHA Akshan	SRI	Male
WELANDAGODA PATHIRANAGE Janaka	SRI	Male
POONPAT Benjamas	THA	Female
TANSAI Napalai	THA	Female
DAOCHANTERK Anun	THA	Male
HOMRARUEN Arun	THA	Male
KORKERD Thanakan	THA	Male
PHUYIM Kittisak	THA	Male
POONPAT Wiwat	THA	Male
RUAMSAP Phanuthat	THA	Male
THAIKING Chaiwat	THA	Male
THAMSOONTORN Navee	THA	Male
VONGTIM Damrongsak	THA	Male
VONGTIM Sakda	THA	Male
WON Kai Han	TPE	Female