Asian Cup Special

Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are hosting the Asian Cup

This years Asian Cup is being hosted by no less than four nations, although none of them can be described as footballing powerhouses.

Sportsworld examines the state of the game in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam and asks if any of these nations can spring a surprise when the tournament kicks off on July 7th?
 
West Asia provides seven of the 16 nations at this years Asian Cup.

Sportsworld’s Rahul Pathak examines the strength of football in the region, and finds out why Iran are tipped to be a strong contender for the title.

One of the favourites to win the tournament are Australia, playing in their first Asian Cup.

The Aussie’s switch to football’s Asian Confederation has been surrounded by controversy, but their star-studded team are aiming to make history on the pitch as well as off it.
 
Tainted Tour

Cycling’s Tour de France rolls into motion in London

Away from football, there is another major sporting event starting this week.

Cycling’s Tour de France rolls into motion in London – the first time the world’s greatest race has been to the English capital.

It was heralded as a new start for an event overshadowed by doping, but as Carrie Brown reports, attempts to improve the sport’s image have been damaged by a number of recent high profile drugs scandals – could the tour be tainted forever?
 
Watch this episode of Sportsworld here:

Part 1:

Part 2:

This episode of Sportsworld aired from 02 July 2007

---

To contact us or leave a comment click on ‘Send your feedback’ at the top of the page.

Watch Al Jazeera English programmes on YouTube

Join our debates on the Your Views page