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Qatar eyes greater prize

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Nation hopes solid Asiad will boost its World Cup bid

Qatar heads for the Asian Games determined that its China campaign will represent the first part of a triple crown of sporting success, with the greatest jewel of all tantalizingly within reach.

The tiny Gulf state, which staged the 2006 Games and will host the 2011 Asian Cup, has been a respected, if not always feared, continental opponent, regularly punching above its weight and bankrolled by the country's staggering gas-fuelled wealth.

Just a week after the Guangzhou Asiad closes, Qatar will learn whether or not its audacious, air-conditioned bid to host the 2022 World Cup has been successful.

So a solid performance in China can only serve to give the country's profile one last push in its World Cup dream.

Qatar's ruling family has invested an estimated $3 billion in the state's sports infrastructure in recent years in a desperate attempt to boost its international profile as well as making the most of its limited sporting gene pool.

Short-term measures have also been called upon with millions of dollars dazzling a legion of African athletes - mostly Kenyan - into switching allegiance to Qatar.

Saif Saaeed Shaheen, the runner formerly known as Stephen Cherono, is the most well known, winning the 3,000m steeplechase world title in 2003 before adding the world title the following year.

The system has its pitfalls; Burundi's Onesphore Nkunzimana switched to Qatar in 2004, ran as Sultan Khamis Zama at the Athens Olympics, but this year went back to the African nation.

Qatar's investment in its own athletes is slowly paying dividends with skills crafted at the Aspire Academy, a sprawling center which combines education as well as coaching.

Graduate Mutaz Essa Barshim claimed gold in the high jump at this year's world junior athletics championships in Canada where Qatar was the best-performing Arab nation.

Meanwhile, Fahad Khalfan Al-Bulushi became the center's first footballer to play for the national team when he came on as a substitute in a 1-1 draw against Bahrain.

Aspire head coach Michael Browne believes it is a significant breakthrough as many of the country's league clubs are packed with ageing international players boosting their retirement packages with lucrative desert deals.

"The main difficulty we face at the moment is that the majority of our 1991 and 1992 players are concentrated at a small number of clubs and it is difficult for them to get regular first-team games which are what they need," said Browne.

Qatar picked up nine gold medals at the 2006 Asian Games it hosted, the last of which came with a 1-0 win over Iraq in the football final.

Former Senegal coach Bruno Metsu is in charge of the national team now and he will be expected to match that achievement in China, where squads are limited to Under-23 players, ahead of January's Asian Cup.

Basketball is another sport where medals are expected.

Four years ago, Qatar was runner-up to China but this year the Chinese will be missing their NBA stars.