Click to play videoKuwait: The drama that surrounds the bidding for a major international competition is missing as India and South Korea are locked in the battle for the rights to host the 2014 Asian Games.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is going all out to woo the prospective voters. Big names of Indian sports like Anju Bobby George and Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore along with politicians from Jagdish tytler and Renuka Chaudhary are lending their support to the bid by New Delhi to host the 2014 Games.
"A big event is coming to India and so we all have to support it," says long jumper Anju Bobby George.
It's a straight fight between New Delhi and the South Korean city of Incheon for the 2014 Games with the IOA banking on history as India had hosted the first ever Asian Games that were held in 1951 along with the fact that South Korea hosted the 2002 Asian Games in Busan.
The IOA says that theirs is a country bid while the Korean bid is a city bid. But the Indian contingent is nervous as the deadline approaches.
"We have to be careful. They (South Korea) are raising the bids every time. They have already announced $25 million for equipments, competition and training for all Asian countries" President, IOA, Suresh Kalmadi says.
In all, 45 countries will vote on Tuesday in Kuwait to decide who will host the 2014 Games and the IOA is confident of support from the SAARC countries and also a section of the Middle East.
While the race to host 2014 Asian Games is too close to call at the moment but hectic lobbying is going on by both the sides and sports is emerging as a new diplomacy.
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