DOHA, 21 November 2006 – Khalifa Stadium, which has already taken on a position as being one of the world’s iconic sports facilities, is the venue for the 15th Asian Games’ opening ceremony on Dec. 1.
The ceremony will be watched by a global TV audience of more than 1.5 billion and an in-stadia audience comprising heads of government, state guests, visitors and locals.
“We’re eagerly awaiting what will be the culmination of several years of planning for the biggest ceremony Asia has ever known,” said Ahmed Abdulla Al Khulaifi, deputy director general, corporate support, DAGOC.
“More than 10,000 participants will have contributed their expertise and creative skills to realize Qatar’s dream of making the Doha 2006 ceremonies unforgettable events that will be cherished by Qataris and admired by Asia and the world for generations to come,” Al Khulaifi said.
Originally built nearly two decades ago, the Khalifa Stadium has been radically transformed and re-developed to effectively be termed a brand new stadium. From a roofless 20,000-seat venue, it is now a 50,000-seat state-of-the-art stadium with a floating roof and a delicate lighting arch supporting cutting edge technology.
The stadium is the striking centerpiece of the new world-class Sport City precinct, which includes ASPIRE Academy for Sports Excellence, Hamad Aquatic Centre, the Basketball Indoor Hall and a sports hospital amongst other facilities. The graceful, dramatic roof — a PTFE-coated glass fiber membrane supported by cables — covers the newly constructed western stand. It uses less material than any previous stadium roof and takes the design of flexible lightweight structures to new heights.
Designed for extreme desert conditions, it can withstand a temperature range of 5°C to 85°C, strong winds, sand storms and rain. The roof is counterbalanced by a lighting arch, which soars across the stadium. Spanning 265 meters, it uses gravity to create tension in the stay cables that hold it up in order to appear as if floating in midair. The lighting arch will support lights, speakers and fireworks during the Ceremonies.
The delivery and loading of the technical elements of the ceremonies has commenced and involves extensive use of different technical elements – in particular, the largest audio-visual element ever to be built at a Stadium. To support this, 2,370 ton steel has been delivered to the Stadium, in addition to video screens, 44 PIGI projectors – the largest number ever used in a stadium show--77 automated searchlights, a huge number of special effects components, 15 metric tones of fireworks and 25 containers of lighting equipment.
Khalifa Stadium has hosted several international and national events including the first GCC football tournament — but none more high profile than the ceremonies and athletics of the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006.
