Guangzhou was awarded the right on July 1, 2004, as the sole bidding city. This came after the withdrawal of several cities, from Amman, Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. The games will also be co-hosted by Dongguan, Foshan and Shanwei, the three neighbouring cities.
Organisation
[edit] Bid
In Doha, Qatar on July 1, 2004, Guangzhou was awarded the right to host the Games.[1] This decision came after several other cities withdrew, with their own reasons. Seoul withdrew after considering the short span of time between 2002 and 2010, because South Korea hosted the Games, eight years before, back in 2002 in Busan.[2] Kuala Lumpur were forced to withdrew their bid, after it was boycotted by the cabinet, due to the high cost of hosting the Games, leaving Guangzhou as the sole bidder.[3][4]
[edit] Marketing
The 2010 Asian Games' official emblem was unveiled at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall on November 26, 2006. It is a stylized goat, which, in Chinese tradition, is a blessing and brings people luck. It is also a representative symbol of the host city Guangzhou, which is called the "City of Goats" or "City of the Five Rams".[5]
Five sporty goats, dubbed "Le Yangyang," will serve as the mascots of the Games, it was unveiled on April 28, 2008 at Guangzhou Baiyun International Convention and Exhibition Center.[6][7] The five goats: A Xiang (祥), A He (和), A Ru (如), A Yi (意) and Le Yangyang (樂洋洋), are a play on Guangzhou's nickname, "City of Goats". Moreover, the Chinese character "yang" or "goat" is also an auspicious symbol because, when read together, the Chinese names of the five goats are a message of blessing, literally meaning "harmony, blessings, success and happiness" (祥和如意樂洋洋).[8] The mascot design is based on a legend about five immortals who took five goats to Guangzhou, each holding an ear of corn in its mouth. There, the immortals prayed for an end to famine, then flew into the sky as the five goats turned into fossils.
[edit] Costs
On March 11, 2005, Lin Shusen of the Guangzhou Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said the Games "will not cost more than ￥2 billion",[9] in stark contrast to an earlier report, which had claimed that the cost could exceed ￥200 billion.[10] However, the actual costs have not yet been revealed. In March 2009, the director of the marketing department of the Games, Fang Da’er, claimed that the Games were short of funds, due to lack of sponsorship and the global financial crisis.[11] The latest report claimed that the Games was estimated to cost US$420 million and provide revenue of US$450 million.[12]
[edit] Venues
Guangdong Olympic Stadium
There are 53 competition venues and 17 training venues available for the Games. These include the Asian Games Town which consists of the Athletes' Village, Technical Officials' Village, Media Village, Main Media Center and International Broadcast Center.[13] Organisers revealed that the total investment is over ￥15 billion.[14]
The new venues include: Asian Games Town Gymnasium, Guangzhou Velodrome, Guangdong Olympic Aquatics Centre, Nansha Gymnasium, Guangdong Olympic Tennis Centre, Guangti Gymnasium, Guangzhou Shotgun Centre and Huangpu Sports Centre Gymnasium.
The renovated venues include: Guangzhou Gymnasium, Guangdong Olympic Stadium, Tianhe Stadium, Fangcun Tennis Center, University Town, Guangdong International Rowing Centre, Huang Pu Sports Centre Gymnasium, Yan Zi Gang Stadium, Guangdong Peoples' Stadium, Guangdong Olympic Tennis Centre and Yuexiushan Stadium.
On April 19, 2009, organisers chose Haixinsha Island in Pearl River as the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies.[15]
[edit] Torch relay
Torch relay route.
The Tide was chosen by the organisers as the torch of the Games, defeating Exploit which was short-listed in September 2009.[16] The Tide weighs 98g and is 70 cm long, and is tall and straight in shape, while dynamic in terms of image.
The torch relay route was unveiled on March 4, 2010. For financial reasons,[17] the torch relay duration around Guangdong is 30 days. The flame of the torch will be lit at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on October 9, 2010, with some 2,010 torchbearers expected to carry it throughout the cities of Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Dongguan, Shenzhen, Huizhou, Shanwei, Shantou, Jieyang, Chaozhou, Meizhou, Heyuan, Shaoguan, Qingyuan, Zhaoqing, Yunfu, Maoming, Zhanjiang, Yangjiang, Jiangmen, Foshan and Guangzhou from October 12 to November 11, 2010.[18][19]
Secondary official mark of torch relay was unveiled on July 15, 2010, feature a silhouette of a running goat holding a torch.[20]
[edit] The Games
[edit] Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony will be held on November 12, 2010 on Haixinsha Island in the Pearl River. It will be directed by Chen Weiya, who was also the assistant director of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Chen revealed in a special interview that the ceremony "will surprise the world".[21] Opening ceremony will begin at 20:04 (UTC+8), with some 7,000 peoples contributed to the ceremony, team parade will be held at 21:00 (UTC+8), while "mysterious" lightning ceremony will be held at 21:42 (UTC+8). The ceremony will be held separately: at the sea and land.[22]
[edit] Sports
Compared to the 28 events in the Olympic Games, the 2010 Asian Games will feature 42 events throughout the 16 days of the competition, with added disciplines in some events. Football will be held before the opening ceremony, 28 and 5 gold medalist emerge during the opening day and final day respectively, while a total of 48 gold medalist emerge on November 25, 2010, the most in single day.[23] Twenty20 cricket is among the debutant sports,[24] with dancesport, dragon boat, weiqi and roller sport added as unique to the Games.[25] Bodybuilding was dropped due to judging controversy in the 2006 Games.[26]
* Aquatics
o Diving (10)
o Swimming (38)
o Synchronized swimming (3)
o Water polo (2)
* Archery (4)
* Athletics (47)
* Badminton (7)
* Baseball (1)
* Basketball (2)
* Board games
o Chess (4)
o Weiqi (3)
o Xiangqi (2)
* Bowling (12)
* Boxing (14)
* Canoeing
o Slalom (4)
o Sprint (12)
* Cricket (2)
* Cue sports (10)
* Cycling
o BMX (2)
o Mountain bike (2)
o Road (4)
o Track (10)
* Dancesport (10)
* Dragon boat (6)
* Equestrian (6)
o Dressage
o Eventing
o Jumping
* Fencing (12)
* Football (2)
* Golf (4)
* Gymnastics
o Artistic (14)
o Rhythmic (2)
o Trampoline (2)
* Handball (2)
* Hockey (2)
* Judo (16)
* Kabaddi (2)
* Karate (13)
* Modern pentathlon (4)
* Roller sports
o Artistic (3)
o Speed (6)
* Rowing (14)
* Rugby union (2)
* Sailing (14)
* Sepaktakraw (6)
* Shooting (44)
* Soft tennis (7)
* Softball (1)
* Squash (4)
* Table tennis (7)
* Taekwondo (16)
* Tennis (7)
* Triathlon (2)
* Volleyball
o Beach (2)
o Indoor (2)
* Weightlifting (15)
* Wrestling (18)
* Wushu (15)
[edit] Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony will be held on November 27, 2010, with the performances will begin at 20:06 (UTC+8), performing operatic to shown the culture across the Asia. A flag handover to 2014 Games will be included in this ceremony.[22]
[edit] Participation
It is expected that 45 members of Olympic Council of Asia participating in the Games. Organisers set July 31, 2010 as deadline for National Olympic Committees to submit their entry. As of July 22, 2010, 32 NOCs already submitted their entry, with total of 7,987 athletes and almost 4,500 officials will be committed to the Games, leaving only 13 NOCs yet to do so.[27]
[edit] Concerns and controversies
[edit] Air quality
Like Beijing 2008, Guangzhou is also committed to raising the air quality. The authority had pledged ￥600 million to fight the problem, and had ordered around 32 chemical plants to stop production by the end of 2009.[28] The report shown on July 13, 2010 indicates that the air quality was rated at 95.07% in 2009, an increase of 12.01% since 2004,[29] this issue eventually cost authority ￥24 billion.[30]
[edit] Mandarin or Cantonese
Main article: 2010 controversy over proposed increase of adoption of Standard Mandarin by Guangzhou Television
The citizens of Guangzhou opposed the proposal suggested by the city committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) to use Mandarin more in television news programmes, rather than Guangzhou's main language Cantonese. This caused anger in the community.[31] Cantonese is basically attacked on two fronts. One is "internal migration" - people moving to Guangdong from other regions. Guangdong boasts 14 million residents; half of the new settlers do not speak any Cantonese. The other front is the government policy to create a "unified harmonious society". Beijing's 1982 constitution article 19 set Putonghua as the official language. A survey in June 2010 showed 80% of 30,000 respondents opposed the switch from Cantonese to Mandarin.[32]
[edit] Absence of Indian cricket
Cricket is among the five debutant sports in the Games. However, despite being a potential medal winner based on its historical record (with nine World Cup appearances and one win), India failed to send a team to the Games; according to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) it is due to "international commitments".[33] However, reports have claimed that money and doping issues are the real reasons for this decision.[34] Rumours are also afoot about the Sri Lankan cricket team, but any final decision is yet to be made.[35]
[edit] References
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33. ^ Mohapatra, Bikash (2010-06-01). "Indian cricket team to skip Asian Games". Rediff Sports. http://cricket.rediff.com/report/2010/jun/01/indian-cricket-team-to-skip-asian-games.htm. Retrieved 2010-07-16.
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35. ^ T.B. Rahaman (2010-07-10). "Sri Lanka cricket team unlikely to participate at Asian G
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