We already spoke about Latin America and Europe but what about the Asian nations? Inline skating in Asia continues to grow especially in speed. Can the Asian nations upset the stars of the world inline circuits?

It was more than a decade ago that Chinese Taipei (Taiwan) shocked everyone by attending their first world champs on inlines and obtaining a silver on debut. They then backed that up with 1 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze in the same year in the Junior CIC World Championships in Barrancabermeja (Colombia) which kick started the Asian charge. Sadly, political issues prevented part of the team coming in recent years.

An avalanche of success followed as Korea stepped up and obtained their first inline world champsionship medal in Mar del Plata 1997.

Inline skating is now booming in South Korea with the Incheon and Seoul Marathons widely regarded as two of the best and most popular marathon events in the world today.

2005 was a big year for Asia with the debut of the CIC World Championships in Suzhou, China and 2006 could be even bigger for the most populated continent on earth.

More than 50 countries are expected to participate in Anyang in just over a week from now. Kwok Chae is the famous star of Korean skating but our sources indicate that they have more than one secret weapon that they are waiting to unleash on the world of speed skating.

Along with Korea, Chinese Taipei will have a very large delegation of athletes, coaches and fans. Korea is expecting a huge turnout of spectators that should rival a Colombian world championships. China is hoping they can win their first medal after coming so close in their own country last year. The junior Guo Dan is their best hope.

Other countries in the region include Hong Kong, India, Indonesia and Japan will look for consolidation and personal bests amongst their skaters, while Bangladesh, Philippines, Iran, Mongolia, Singapore and Thailand will make their debut in Anyang 2006. Pakistan will have its second participation at the Worlds after its last outing in Santiago, Chile in 1999.