The Beijing Summer Olympics is just 17 days away, and Asia has been practicing hard to make their presence felt. Winning a gold medal at the Olympics, is not just a matter of pride for the athlete or the country, but also an indicator of their economic and political growth - and Asia is out to prove that this will be the Asian Century.

While host nation China, is expected to bag the most gold amongst its Asian counterparts, Japan and South Korea will not be far behind. Japan will be pinning their hopes on Judo, swimming, wrestling and gymnastics. “We are targeting gold medals in two digits and a total of more than 30 medals. That is the bottom line,” said Tomiaki Fukuda, head of Japan’s delegation to Beijing.

They have high hopes for judo icon Ryoko Tani to win her third straight Olympic title while Mizuki Noguchi has her marathon crown to defend. In equestrian Hiroshi Hoketsu is Asia’s oldest competitor at 67.

The Koreans have at least one trick up their sleeve in teenage swim sensation Park Tae-Hwan, who burst onto the scene at the 2006 Asian Games when he took three freestyle gold medals.

“China has an incredibly strong team. Host nations generally have home-field advantage,” admitted Steve Roush, the US Olympic Committee chief of sport performance, told the AFP.

While the three Asian heavyweights should again take the bulk of the glory, smaller fry like Thailand, Taiwan, and Hong Kong put athletes on the podium in 2004 and will be looking to improve in Beijing.

Although India’s signature hockey team will not be present at the Olympics, the country will be counting on its shooters, archers, boxers and tennis players. “The Olympic world knows India for its hockey, but this is a good chance to prove there is more to our sport than that,” said the country’s senior Olympic official Randhir Singh told the AFP.

The last three Games produced a medal each for India with tennis star Leander Paes winning a bronze at Atlanta, women’s weightlifter Karnam Malleswari a bronze in Sydney and shooter Rajyavardhan Rathore a silver at Athens.

Mongolia, Iran, Indonesia, North Korea, Uzbekistan, UAE, Kazakhstan, Syria, and India also tasted limited success.

Elsewhere, the region has some of the world’s best boxers, with Thailand and and Uzbekistan having the talent to cause jitters in traditional Olympic power Cuba.

Thailand has one of its strongest boxing teams ever, led by defending light-welterweight champion Manus Boonjumnong, flyweight Somjit Jongjorhor, and bantamweight Worapoj Petchkoom.

Taiwan is a power in taekwondo, while badminton and table tennis are Asian domains. It will be the rest of the world trying to muscle into these sports rather than the other way round in Beijing.

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