DOHA, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Qatar's first rhythmic gymnast Alla AlSaadi performed two exhibition routines and hoped to have a bright future in the sport at the Doha Asian Games here on Saturday.

Al Saadi, who began the sport of rhythmic gymnastics only four years ago, has yet to compete. On Saturday afternoon, she showed promising flexibility, expression and skill development during her ball and rope exhibition routines.

Al Saadi, 14, is not old enough to compete in Doha 2006 and is aware that even if she could compete she would not challenge for medals. She sees the Games as a chance to practise and to watch several leading rhythmic gymnasts go through their paces.

"I expected to get more experience from the performance," said Al Saadi, who was pleased with her best apparatus, the rope, during the first session of the women's team final.

"I have performed three times already, at the Gymnastiad in Athens, the Aspire Challenge in Qatar and now the Asian Games. I hope to compete in the very near future."

Al Saad said it is exciting to be Qatar's first gymnast and that she is looking forward to developing the sport in Qatar after the Games.

"Qater is slowly catching up to the world in rhythmic gymnastics," said Al Saadi. "I feels good to be the first Qatari gymnast and I am still young and training very hard to perform well in the future."

Al Saadi hopes to stay involved in rhythmic gymnastics for a long time and is already dreaming of her next role in the sport. "I want to be a professional judge in the future," said Al Saadi.

TOKYO, Dec. 9 (Xinhua) -- Japan's achievement of 16 gold medals in the swimming pool of the Asian Games in Doha showed that the country is recovering on its way back to be one of the super powers in the swimming world, Japanese media commented on Saturday.

Japan got the same number of gold medals as its Chinese rivals in swimming competitions in the Asiad, a noticeable improvement from the last Asian Games in Busan, said the Industrial and Economic Daily, which considered the progress qualifies for an optimistic expectation for better performance by Japanese swimmers in the world championship in 2007 and the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

The article attributed the satisfactory scores mainly to the uprising of young Japanese swimmers.

How to improve the scores on the freestyle is the primary problem to be addressed by the Japanese swimming team, the newspaper said, making a comparison between Japan's only one gold medal to Chinese and Korean players' setting new Asiad records on two items of the program.

On its way of returning to the dominant group, the Japanese swimming team has to make a breakthrough on the freestyle, the report said.