hankyoreh

Officials of South Korea's third-largest city Incheon on Monday cautiously expressed confidence on the city's bid for the 2014 Asian Games as Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao supported the bid during his trip to Seoul last week. Wen said in Seoul he will order relevant Chinese authorities to take measures to support Incheon, Incheon officials said, although China is said to support the bid of New Delhi with which Beijing has been building strategic cooperation for the past few years. New Delhi is a major competitor of Incheon at a general assembly of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) scheduled to be held here Tuesday to decide the host city.

China's stance is expected to influence its special administrative regions Hong Kong and Macau that are also members of the OCA.

Officials from Incheon, whose population is 2.74 million, said they have secured support from at least 20 of the 45 member nations in the OCA, just a few short of the 23 needed to beat New Delhi.

Prior to the vote, Incheon will hold a 30-minute presentation that includes a video message from President Roh Moo-hyun.

In the presentation, Incheon will also promise it will raise US$20 million to support Asian countries that have not yet won medals in the quadrennial Asian Games.

New Delhi said publicly it will offer free flights and accommodation to all the participants if it wins the bid.

Incheon officials said they hope the sports facilities in Incheon, including Munhak World Cup stadium and Samsan Gymnasium, will greatly impress OCA members in the presentation.

"Delegation members from the OCA praised the superb sports facilities during their on-site inspection late last year, and the results of the evaluation will also help us garner some additional votes." an official said.

If Incheon wins, it will be third Korean city to host the Asian Games following Seoul and Busan, which hosted the event in 1986 and 2002, respectively.

The competition is expected to have an 18.6-trillion-won economic effect and create 270,000 new jobs.

The event will also likely change the landscape of the city with the construction of an athletes village, sports parks and a public golf course.

The 16th Asian Games will be held in 2010 in Guangzhou, China.
Kuwait, April 16 (Yonhap News)