Focus

The games people play at the Games

By Cui Jia and Lei Lei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-11-12 08:08

Dragon boat racing The sport involves crews made up of 20 forward-facing paddlers, a drummer and a steersman racing in traditional Chinese long boats fitted with heads and tails over a distance of 18.4 meters. Its roots can be traced back more than 2,200 years to Qu Yuan, who drowned himself in a river in South China as a protest against corruption during the Warring States Period (475-221 BC). Debut at Asian Games: Guangzhou 2010

Sticky wicket

One of the biggest headaches has been cricket, which will make its debut at the Asiad this year.

"We have zero experience organizing competitive cricket. We actually had to build China's first standard pitch," said Zhang Tian, 31, who is in charge of running cricket events at the 2010 Games.

Although the China team has not had the perfect preparation (the lack of facilities has meant players have trained on soccer pitches), the same cannot be said for the pitch at the Guangdong University of Technology Cricket Stadium.

This is largely thanks to Jashim Uddin, a Bangladeshi groundskeeper with 30 years of experience, who has spent seven months in the city working with the Asian Cricket Council.

"It's been a tough road because (the Chinese organizers) didn't know what to do," said Uddin. "For a first-time effort, though, the facilities are excellent."

Wang Chenqu, deputy competition director of cricket, admitted he knew nothing about the sport before taking up his current position but insisted: "Just because we've never hosted cricket games, we still have to plan things to the finest details.

"There are so many things we don't know but we are learning as we progress," he said.

Bandula Warnapura, former Sri Lanka cricket captain and now a technical director with the Asian Cricket Council, inspected the Guangzhou committee's preparation on Nov 10, three days before the first 20-over match.

"The Chinese are fast learners and everything has been very smooth here," said the 57-year-old. "When the Chinese make up their mind to do something, they do it well.

"If cricket does well at the Asian Games, it could be an Olympic event soon, so this debut is extremely important. I have absolute faith in the organizers, even though it's their first time," added Warnapura.

Tickets for the men's and women's events have been selling like the proverbial hotcakes, with sellout crowds expected at many games.