15th Asian Games PART 1- Doha 2006

[omarmakki]

Don't worry qatar son...
We do read it. Good job there!

[Massilia]

Keep the updates coming qatar son, we need our daily dose!

[Massilia]

By the way I got a question. On the games site, it says that Sheikh Joaan is "completing his three-year officer training at the Military Academy in Brittany, France and will graduate in July 2007." Do you know exactly what school this is, and is it kind of a tradition for the Emir's family to go and study there? Tell me if you ever know! : )

[Qatar Son 333]

I dont know sorry

[Qatar Son 333]

Official Supplier - TFCN The Look Company

In the run up to the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006, Qatar’s capital city has been transformed with huge outdoor displays promoting the Games and even wrapping entire skyscrapers in pictures of athletes in action.

It’s all thanks to TFCN The Look Company, which is the Official Supplier of Look Project Management for the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006.

TFCN The Look Company spearheads the Look Programme, through a range of integrated Look solutions that captivate, excite and interact with spectators and participants.

Examples of its unique Doha 2006 city Look and venue transformations include building wraps 25 stories high, sculptures, giant panoramic billboards, large-scale building projections, banner boulevards and even stadiums dressed in colour and light.

TFCN The Look Company manages, designs, produces and implements world class Look programmes. It takes on and delivers the full range of Look opportunities and challenges.

The Asian Games is the second largest sporting event in the world, after the Olympic Games itself.

Developing the city and stadium Look program for an international event like this requires a large array of talents, including Brand & Look Strategy, Project Management, Design & Engineering, CAD & Site Surveying, Lighting & Projection, Logistics & Procurement, Print & Hardware Manufacturing, as well as the Installation and Decommissioning.

TCFN The Look Company even organised expert climbers to measure buildings, so each banner or wrap could be tailored to meet the exact dimensions of each installation. The same riggers then help install the vast displays.

It’s all part of the extraordinary efforts to make Doha 2006 the Games of your Life.

[Qatar Son 333]

Abu Dhabi, UAE - Sun 19 Nov

Big day in Abu Dhabi


The Torch Relay of the 15th Asian Games continued its four-day march across the United Arab Emirates today, 19 November, day 43 of the journey.

Today the 15th Asian Games Flame arrived from Dubai in Abu Dhabi, the capital city of the United Arab Emirates, with its towering skyscrapers and more than its fair share of top-rated hotels.

Outside the 200-year-old Al Maqta Fort, HE Sheikh Joaan Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the 15th Asian Games Torch Relay Ambassador, lit the Flame. He handed it to the first Torchbearer, Mohammed Khalifa Al Kubaisi, a tenpin bowler and the UAE’s most successful athlete. He competed in the past three Asian Games - 1994, 1998 and 2002 - and is set to appear in his fourth next month in Qatar.

Dressed in traditional clothes, Mr Al Kubaisi led three camels across the Al Maqta Bridge spanning the sparkling waters of the Gulf, to Abu Dhabi Island.

Along As Salam Road, Marzooq Ibrahim carried the Flame on a black Harley-Davidson motorbike. Escorted by another 24 Harleys, they rode in formation, with the last rider holding a large UAE flag.

The Flame journeyed past the huge white Al Nayhan Mosque, which is under construction and, once completed, is believed will be one of the largest mosques in the world. There the Flame was transferred into its safety lantern for a 10-minute drive to the Corniche. On the Corniche the 15th Asian Games Torch was borne by five UAE Paralympic athletes.

On its way along the Corniche, the Flame went past scores of school children taking part in varied sporting displays including gymnastics, judo and karate.

At the end of the Corniche, the Flame did a U-turn to travel back along the coastal road. Once more, Mohammed Khalifa Al Kubaisi, the four Asian Games’ veteran, had another session of Torch-carrying duties. This time around, however, he was wearing the colourful uniform of the Doha Asian Games’ Torchbearer.

His second stint over, Mr Al Kubaisi handed the Flame to the Minister of Education, Dr Haneef Hassan. Dr Hassan then continued the Flame’s progress along the coastal road, with several representatives from the UAE’s Government and members of the Emiri’s Diwan taking turns to carry the Torch.

Huge crowds gathered in front of the stunning, pink stone Emirates Palace Hotel, where the Flame was transported up the long driveway in a gleaming, white, Bentley motor car. As they entered the main gates, the Chief of the Emiri’s Diwan, Mohammad Hilal Al Kaabi, passed the Flame to Hussain Al Jasmi, the renowned UAE singer.

From a hotel to a palace, the Flame was this time transported in the white Bentley to the Qasr Al Hosn Palace, where it was carried through huge doors, which closed firmly behind it.

Qasr Al Hosn Palace, built in 1761, is the oldest historic building in Abu Dhabi and used to be the official residence of the rulers of Abu Dhabi. The Flame was temporarily housed in the palace for safekeeping before proceeding to the recently-completed Mohammed Bin Zayed Stadium.

As night fell, the Flame arrived at the 40,000-seat stadium in the hand of eight-year-old HH Sheikh Zayed Bin Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nayhan who rode in on horseback. He was escorted by 45 white horses whose riders each carried a flag of the 45 nations taking part in the 15th Asian Games starting on 1 December.

At the entrance to the players’ tunnel, the young Sheikh handed the Flame to his older brother, HH Sheikh Hazza Bin Hamdan Bin Zayed Al Nayhan, aged 10.

The brothers paused for a moment before joining their two torches; then proceeded up the steps to the stage where HH Sheikh Hazza handed the flame to HH Sheikh Mansour, President of the Al Jazira Football Club of the UAE.

HH Sheikh Mansour lit the Cauldron before the evening’s celebrations kicked off. These included an exciting firework display and singing by Hussain Al Jasmi, who also performed a duet with Ahlam, a well known UAE female singer.

Tomorrow, Monday 20 November, the Flame travels to Kuwait, where it will spend the next two days before traveling to Bahrain and then to Qatar on 25 November.

Doha and the start of the Games comes ever nearer.

[Qatar Son 333]

the flame in abudabi the video http://www.doha-2006.com/gis/menuroo...eos.aspx?id=98

[Qatar Son 333]

pictures of the flame in abu.... ah you know http://www.doha-2006.com/gis/menuroo...rchphotos.aspx

[Qatar Son 333]

Around the world


The Challenge

Sixty seven year-old Tony Bullimore is attempting to sail round the world in under 71 days, 14 hours, 33 minutes and 33 seconds to beat the time set by 28 year-old Ellen MacArthur in 2004.

To be eligible for the record, Tony has to sail his boat, Doha 2006, a 102ft catamaran, single handed, over 21,600 miles.

Doha 2006 will start from close to Hobart, Tasmania, and will first cross the world's stormiest sea, the Southern Ocean, towards Cape Horn at the tip of South America. The distance from the start to Cape Horn is shorter the further south you sail, but Tony will have to be careful of icebergs if he pushes too far south.

Sailing close to Antarctica or not, Tony will still have to endure extreme cold and some of the world's biggest waves. Rolling unobstructed around the planet, waves in the Southern Ocean can reach over 40m high in big storms.

While sailing his boat as fast as possible, Tony Bullimore will have to constantly be on the look-out for maintenance problems in the sails and rigging, as well as in the complex systems that allow him to sail a craft of this size on his own.

Sleep will sometimes be hard to come-by; particularly when conditions are rough and the boat is gyrating under the effect of wind and sea. Water will often get below decks too, making for a wet sleeping bag and bunk. On average, Tony will sleep for only four hours a day, taken in short naps of perhaps not much more than ten minutes at a time.

Food is another problem. To save weight the boat will carry freeze-dried food which is reconstituted by adding boiling water. The result might be nutritious, but it has little taste.

Doha 2006 won't be carrying tanks full of water for the whole trip. Every day a desalination unit will be run in order to create just enough water for that day's usage. While the engine is running to power the water-maker, it is also used to charge the batteries.

Electric power is very important to Doha 2006 despite the fact that she is a sailing boat. Powerful satellite communication equipment allows Tony to send emails, still pictures and even video footage back to shore. So, not only do the boat's batteries have to be charged, Tony also has to find time to write, shoot , film and edit as well as sail the boat.

After the rigours of the Southern Ocean, Tony Bullimore will head north to warmer climes, sailing up the Atlantic towards the equator.

Temperatures will increase, exchanging one discomfort for another. Hot and airless, the boat will heat up like an oven. Tony will be drained by the heat and with the difficulty of sailing the boat in light winds.

But it won't last long, soon it will be back to the Southern Ocean, and the cold and wet; sailing as fast as possible towards the finish line off Hobart, just where the record attempt started.

[Qatar Son 333]

sub of

The Man

Born in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England in 1939, Tony Bullimore didn't come to sailing until he was a teenager, but took to it immediately.

After years of pleasure-sailing and racing, in 1982 Tony came into the spotlight with some highly successful multihull sailing.

With sponsorship from the computer company Apricot, Tony built and campaigned in some of the most advanced racing vessels of their time. Pioneering in many ways with the design of the boats and their equipment, Tony quickly built up a reputation for being a tough customer. He climbed masts in howling gales and once climbed 300m sheer cliffs when a boat was washed into their base during a race.

Tony has more than 300,000 ocean racing miles under his belt. His many racing successes include the Round Britain & Ireland Race, singlehanded and two-man Transatlantic races, the Quebec/St Malo race, Plymouth/Vilamoura Race, Round Europe Race, Round the Island Races and the 2005 Oryx Quest round the world race.

In 1985 Tony was voted Yachtsman of the Year with Nigel Irens, the designer of his current catamaran Doha 2006, after they won a succession of races with Bullimore's 60ft trimaran Apricot.

In 1997 Tony secured world fame for tenaciously surviving five days in the freezing conditions of the Southern Ocean inside his capsized yacht during the Vendee Globe solo round the world race after the keel broke and fell off.

And in 2005, he finished a highly creditable 2nd overall in the Oryx Quest round the world race that started and finished in Doha.

[Qatar Son 333]

The Boat

Tony Bullimore's Doha 2006 catamaran, a twin-hulled boat he will be using for the round-the-world record attempt was first built in early 1984 by Canadair, an aircraft and defence manufacturer. With its ground-breaking, aircraft-standard composite construction and hi-tech carbon wing mast, Doha 2006 has a pedigree for breaking records.

Her construction was a world first. The hi-tech boat, designed by Englishman Nigel Irens, was the first large carbon fibre-constructed yacht, with the hull mouldings cured in an autoclave oven.

She began life as an 80-footer (24.24m) under the name of Formula TAG and won the Monaco/New York race in 1985.

During the return transatlantic race from Quebec to St Malo, Formula TAG set a 24-hour world sailing record of 518 miles - a 21.6 knot benchmark that stood for nine years.

In 1996, after languishing on a dockside for some time, the 80ft hulls were extended to 92ft (27.87m) when Robin Knox-Johnston and Peter Blake sailed her under the name ENZA New Zealand to a record (fully-crewed) round-the-world time of 74 days, 22 hours, 17 minutes.

Four years later, sailing as Royal and SunAlliance, skippered by Tracey Edwards and sailed by an all-girl crew, the catamaran was ahead of that record until her dismasting deep in the Southern Ocean.

Tony Bullimore took over the catamaran in 2000 and commissioned Westland Aerospace to add a further 10ft (3.0m) to her bows for Le Race, an event for fully-crewed maxi-catamarans in 2001. The modification was designed to improve the boat's speed and reduce the possibility of her pitch-poling turning stern over bows when surfing at high speed through the Southern Ocean.

The British yachtsman also increased her rig with a 109ft (33m) carbon fibre wing mast which is 40 percent lighter than her original alloy mast.

Renamed Daedalus in 2005, Tony Bullimore and his crew sailed the catamaran to 2nd place in the Oryx Quest non-stop round-the-world race which started from Doha.

Now named Doha 2006, the boat has been modified still further for single-handed sailing in readiness for Tony's solo record attempt starting from Hobart, Tasmania in October 2006.

Tons of weight, including the engines, have been removed, though some equipment likely to make the boat easier for one man to sail has been added. Roller furling headsails have been fitted to reduce the amount of times Tony will have to pull sails up the mast.

But nothing can save Tony from the hardest task of all. The mainsail weighs 0.7 tons and has to be winched up the mast by hand. Even shaking out an area-reducing reef once strong winds have passed will take more than 20 minutes, and tying in and shaking out reefs will be a regular task if performance is to be maintained.

Doha 2006 is fitted with state-of-the-art sailing instruments and satellite communications so Tony can make the best possible use of the weather that drives his record attempt.

Satellite phone conversations will take up much of the lone skipper's time. He will talk to his weather router Lee Bruce at least once a day. Bruce will be sitting in front of his bank of computers in the US from where he will advise Tony on the best course to sail.

Sometimes the best course will be to avoid the strongest winds; at others it will be to avoid patches of calm. Bruce will discuss strategy with Tony depending on the condition of boat and man, on the wind and on the waves, to decide what will be best for the boat and the best to keep on schedule for the record.

[Qatar Son 333]

11 days to goooooooooooooooooo !!!

[suzan]

cool
qatar son, are you going to the opening?

[CrazY]

The asian Games Torch will arrive in Kuwait tomorrow on 2:00pm, you can see it on Kuwait sports and youth channel KTV3, the torch will go through the Gulf Street in Kuwait City

i took some photos of the preparations to welcome the torch







Qatari Flag and Kuwait towers

[Halawala]

Thanks for the photos Crazy. I was there at Abu Dhabi yesterday during the cermemony with Sh. Joaan. It was fun!! I will try to post pics later.

[omarmakki]

Thanks for the photos crazy...
I've never been to Kuwait before, but as far as I know, Gulf st. is the best place to spot exotics!

[CrazY]

yup, that and love street ;p LOOOOOOOOOOL
halawala knows what im talking about ;p

[omarmakki]

yea... share3 el 7ob.
Of course I've heard about it!

[Halawala]

Originally Posted by omarmakki

yea... share3 el 7ob.
Of course I've heard about it!

SHARA3 EL 7OB is another street, but Gulf Street is where all the waterfront restuarants/parliament/kuwait towers are...

[omarmakki]

I know they are different streets...
share3 el 7ob is love st. which crazy was talking about. I know it's not the same as Gulf st