WHATS THE TARGET ZOL

Guangzhou Asian Games host, China's promise of organising the best games ever, was clearly evident through the transformation of the city's landscape which reflects a sports city outlook, said Malaysian contingent Chef-de-Mission Datuk Zolkples Embong.

Zolkples who visited Guangzhou, the third largest city in China with a population of about 10 million, last week, said the city had undergone a massive transformation.

"The Guangzhou Asian Games Organising Committee (GAGOC) have worked hard and channeled a lot of effort towards ensuring the success of the games, especially in terms of facilities.

"Facilities like the Games Village in Guangzhou can be regarded as better than the Games Village for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games," he told Bernama on Tuesday.

Malaysian athletes would have no reasons to complaint about the excellent facilities provided by GAGOC, he said.

Zolkples who is also the National Sports Council (NSC) director general said he had also visited a number the 12 new venues built and nine more upgraded for the games and expected to be ready by May.

The opening and closing ceremonies would be held at the new Guangdong Olympic Sports Centre which has a capacity of 80,000.

"With banners and buntings everywhere, Guangzhou looks like it is ready to host the games. The outlook of the whole city seems to be given a facelift and there are special lanes for athletes to go to the stadiums for training or competition," he said.

He added that GAGOC would use the services of 60,000 volunteers who were vetted from 800,000 applications received, to ensure the smooth success of the Games from Nov 13-21.

Zolkples added that GAGOC would also provide translation services to the 45 member countries of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

GAGOC's deputy marketing department director Yuan Yue who visited Malaysia last year had said that USD500 million (RM16.5 billion) was allocated for infrastructure and facilities for the games.