DOHA : It is a party thrown by a country, with less than a million population, to 44 countries in the region that have two thirds of the world's population. Welcome to the 15th Asian Games!

The sports capital of the Middle East and the `Pearl of the Gulf', Doha will play host to about 10,500 athletes and officials who will be competing in 424 events in 39 disciplines over the next fortnight. In doing so, Doha becomes the first Arab city to hold the major international event, which is next only to the Olympics in magnitude.

Qatar, a small peninsula bordering Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain, is considered as a cultural and geographic bridge between the East and the West. It's a vibrant country with one of the fastest growing economies in the world, thanks to the world's largest gas reserves.

High-class towns perched in endless stretches of desert, receiving an average six centimetres of rainfall a year, provide a fascinating contrast of what man and machinery, with adequate resources and the will, can achieve.

Ready for mega event

Having regularly hosted the athletics Grand Prix, the annual ATP and WTA tennis events, apart from the squash Grand Prix and the Masters golf events, Doha, the capital of Qatar, with half of the country's population, is ready for the mega event with an approximate investment of $2.8 billion.

The stage is set with 44 fields of play, nine competitive precincts, 10 stand alone venues, not to forget the multiple residential towers with excellent accommodation for the athletes, officials and media.

The Chinese are ready to party harder than anyone else. China has shown the power of population with remarkable progress in every sphere of life. It's a matter of great pride for the Chinese to excel in sports.

The Chinese gave hell to the U.S. in the last Olympic Games at Athens, losing out narrowly on the top honour — 32 gold medals to 36. With Beijing gearing up for the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese are sure to use the present stage as a minor dress rehearsal.

Do not be surprised if the Chinese win about 350 medals and more than half of them in gold. They won 150 gold, 84 silver and 74 bronze in Busan in 2002.

Meaningful challenge

The Japanese and the Koreans who had finished fifth and ninth among 74 medal winning countries at the Athens Olympics, with 25 gold medals between them, would attempt to provide a meaningful challenge to the Chinese juggernaut.

For a study in contrast, India was placed joint 65th at Athens along with Hong Kong and Paraguay, thanks to a solitary silver medal.

In the Asian Games, India has won a mere 104 gold medals in all, including 11 four years ago. Quite understandably, India's best haul was in the first edition in 1951 when it landed 15 gold.

As a shocking contrast, India had only one gold in Beijing in 1990. In fact, India has won 427 medals in all of 51 years, as compared to 308 by China in Busan alone!

In the absence of the weightlifters, women in particular, serving a suspension for multiple doping violations within a year, India's overall haul may suffer.

The WADA shadow

To add to the misery, the World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) has been trailing the Indian athletes all over the world for surprise dope tests during training stints, and that has meant a considerable fall in the performance levels. Hence, India may not be able to aspire for the seven gold medals that its athletes had won in the last edition.

Long-jumper Anju Bobby George, the healthy face of Indian athletics, would try to recover from her poor form in recent months with a memorable fare as the defending champion.

The rest of the Indian contingent would look up to its shooters apart from players in tennis, chess and cue sports to land the gold medals. We cannot forget that India has been a regular gold medallist in kabaddi and is expected to continue its domination.

Some of the best athletes of the country, Olympic silver medallist Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, Manavjit Singh Sandhu, Anjali Bhagwat, Samaresh Jung, Gagan Narang, Mansher Singh, Leander Paes, Mahesh Bhupathi, Sania Mirza, Pankaj Advani, Geet Sethi, P. Harikrishna and Koneru Humpy are ready to show the world that they are second to none.

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