Friday 15 December is set to deliver yet another magnificent day of drama, excitement and thrills that have defined Doha 2006. At Sport City, Qatar will take on the mighty Chinese team in the men's basketball final.
China won gold at the same venue in last year's Asian Championships and have looked simply unbeatable so far. But with the backing of their passionate home supporters, who knows what Qatar can achieve? Four years ago in Busan, Korea, the host nation shocked China in the basketball final 102-110. Can lightening strike twice? The men's basketball gold medal match will take place at 13:30, it will be preceded by the bronze medal match between Jordan and IR Iran at 11:00.
In the afternoon, attention will shift to Al-Sadd Sports Club, where another packed crowd of largely maroon and white will welcome Qatar and Iraq to the field for the men's football final. Both teams have done it the hard way, but eventually seen off some higher rated opponents to put themselves on the verge of glory. Qatar suffered a loss in the group stages to Uzbekistan 1-0, but since that setback have looked awesome and were simply unstoppable in their semifinal against defending champions IR Iran, which they won 2-0.
No matter what the result, the Qatar team will be able to celebrate their best-ever result at an Asian Games. Never before has the nation won a medal in the football tournament, let alone gold. As for their opponents, no other athletes have spent more time as competitors at Doha 2006 than the Iraq men's football team. They opened their campaign way back on Saturday 18 November against Indonesia in the preliminary qualifying round, a match which they won 6-0. They picked their way through to the main tournament proper and eventually the final. They won gold at last year's West Asian Games in Doha, but can they resist an inspired Qatar team in 2006? The men's football final will take place at 16:00.
Finally, a superb day will be complete with the Closing Ceremony for the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006 at Khalifa Stadium, which gets underway at 18:00. 40,000 people will watch the show live and an estimated global television audience of three billion will tune in for a spectacular two hours that will pay tribute to Arabian culture. If it comes anywhere near to being as good as the Opening Ceremony, spectators, athletes and officials can look forward to a real treat.
It has been 15 days of magical competition and celebration, with memories to last a lifetime. Truly it has been the "the Games of your Life"Â. But the best could yet be still to come.
15th Asian Games, Doha 2006
Posted December 17th, 2006 by COBA
