Pawina was among the 139 athletes, including shooters, sepak takraw players and weightlifters, travelling to Doha for the 15th Asian Games yesterday.

The 27-year-old Pawina, who hails from Surin, is a gold-medal hopeful in Doha. Chaiya Sukjinda was the last Thai weightlifter to win a gold way back in the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok. Since then, no Thai lifter has made it that far.

Four years ago in Busan, South Korea, Thai weightlifters returned with three silver medals, including one from Pawina in the women's 69kg class.

"It's hard to say that the gold medal is a lock. I have picked up this knee injury during training and it has hampered my preparations," said Pawina, the first woman in a century to shatter world records in three different classes - 63kg, 69kg and 75kg.

"The team doctor says I must spray the pain-killer on the competition day, on December 4.

"The Chinese girl Quyang Xiaofang will come out with a strong display. I have to be judicious in calling the weights and put pressure on the Chinese team. I must say that it will be very

difficult to break my world records in snatch and Olympic total events."

Pawina, who landed the Best Female Athlete of the Year 2005 honour from the International Weightlifting Federation, has won in all the major competitions. Only the Asian Games gold is missing from her cupboard.

Quyang, who replaced the irrepressible Liu Xia, captured three gold medals at the recent World Championships in the Dominican Republic.

Her performance, however, in that meet is a far cry from what Pawina has achieved in terms of the total weight lifted in top competition.

Meanwhile, South Korea, Thailand and Bahrain got their football campaigns off on the right foot on Tuesday, but glaringly empty stadiums took the gloss off their victories.

There was also wins for local hope Qatar, Uzbekistan and Kuwait as the hunt for Asiad gold began in earnest.

South Korea, bronze medallists at the last Games four years ago on home turf in Busan, proved too much for Bangladesh in Group B. They ran out 3-0 winners but it was a far from convincing display from one of Asia's top teams.

Thailand, co-host of the Asian Cup finals next year, piled more misery on the Palestinian territories', inflicting a 1-0 defeat in their Group C match.

In other matches, Uzbekistan got the better of United Arab Emirates in a 2-1 Group A win.

Preechachan     Wiriyanupappong

The Nation

Doha