Khalifa Stadium

There is no better name to call this vast sport complex than Sport City. Especially designed for the 15th Asian Games hosted by Doha, Qatar, the complex thus lives up to its name. This magnificent place is home to Khalifa Stadium; the ASPIRE Academy of Sports Excellence; the purpose-built Basketball Indoor Hall; the Hamad Aquatic Centre and "a spectator-friendly temporary site designed to host beach volleyball and equestrian - cross country". (http://www.dohaasiangames.org)

It is where the monumental opening ceremony was held last Friday night and where the closing ceremony will be held on the 15th of this month. It is in the Sport City, where most of the action will take place, such as events from the atheletics, gymnastics, swimming, diving, badminton, kabaddi, wrestling, boxing, wushu, beach volleyball, etc. Sport City is 8km to the west of Doha and is side-by-side with the Villagio and just near Hyatt Plaza.

Yesterday, we had the privilege of visiting the Sport City to watch the games. On the way there, about a few kilometers away, you'll already get a fee that something magnificent is coming your way. The lightling structures placed on both sides of the road instantly gives you that feeling. They are like swords being held up by palace guards when welcoming royalties. Then add to that, the big, colorful murals on the walls you'll find along the side of the road as you go along. The first glimpe of the colossal Khalifa Stadium, as well as the gigantic torch will definitely fill anyone with awe. It makes you want to jum out of your car right there and then. However this is not so, as you have to find a parking for your car first. All vehicles must park outside the premises of the Sport City, although there are several parking areas inside the complex, I guess for security reasons, the cars had to be parked outside. From then on, you start what is yet to be a very long walk. Walking your way into the park is not that bad though. Walking actually makes you appreciate all the beauty around you. All the colors coming from flowers, the flags and banners and the structures themselves. It is absolutely awe-inspiring to see the Khalifa Stadium and the torch up-close. My husband couldn't stop taking photos of everything, thus is took us more than 30 minutes just to get to the ASPIRE venue. My daughter had her moment when she got to have her photo taken with Barney although she never watches the big purple dino on tv. She also had a photo with a clown mascot. I was wondering why they didn't have an "Orry" mascot. It would have been an added attraction especially for kids.  There were golf carts available for disabled persons, pregnant women and those with infants. They could also have provided some shuttle buses inside the premises for those who find walking a bit strenuous.

Security was a bit linient. There were xray machines at the very entrance though. The only thing that they're really strict about are bottled water and other beverages. Still they give consideration for milk and water canteens for babies and small children. There are cafeterias all over the venue that sell snack food like hotdog sndwiches, popcorn, chips, chocolates, soda, coffee and bottled water. The prices are very affordable too. I was thinking that they would have marked up the prices but it's a good thing they didn't, making it more affordable for the spectators. There are also clean comfort rooms around.

Tickets can be bought at the Ticket Box Office located on the grounds near the different venues. We bought ours online, thus we just had to claim the tickets when we got to there yesterday. People can also buy on a daily basis, only you have to be early in order to get the event that you want to see.  I heard, yesterday, they ran out of tickets for the swimming event.

Aspire

Once inside the venue (ours was ASPIRE), you are free to go around and get to the event that you want to watch but we were solely interested in Gymnastics so we practically watched all of the team artistic gymnastics events for women . Not all countries had their representatives for gymnastics.  Among the countries who had representatives were China, Japan, People's Republic of Korea (North), Korea, Malaysia, Qatar, Syria, Vietnam and Uzbhekistan. Of all these teams, China, Japan and Korea had the most number of gymnasts thus increasing their chance of winning. All the other teams only had a maximum of 3 and 2 teams, Vietnam and Syria only had one each. Too bad, I learned that the Philippines has a representative who unfortunately was injured and couldn't make it to the games. I overheard one girl sitting beside me, saying that China had a gymnast who's apparently under aged. She is also a gymnast but she was here as part of the youth camp, as a spectator because she couldn't play for the Asian Games until she turns 16. Hmmm...  if this were true, how could have this Chinese gymnast qualified. Nevertheless, the Chinese team did so well especially on the "floor" and the "balance beam" thus bagging the First Place. Second place went to Japan and 3rd to Korea, all the rest performed rather a bit lousily.

At the start of the event, our friend Sandro and Dimple along with their kids and two more kids of a friend came and watched with us. All-in-all it was really fun and all of us had a great time. Finding that the whole complex is breath-taking at night is truly an added bonus to an already wonderful night. I just wish it wasn't that cold last night. I'm sure everybody noticed the sudden drop in temperature since yesterday morning (15 degrees Celcius). Winter has finally come and is here to stay for quite a while. So I guess we just have to be more prepared next time. I just can't wait to watch the games again!

Flame Tower at Night