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SCMP Reporter

WHAT for many people is the next best sporting spectacle after the Olympic Games?  Why, the Winter Olympics, of course, and the opening ceremony to this year's event from Lillehammer in Norway will get under way this week as a prelude to the action on ice and snow.

  Prime Sports will be bringing viewers all the glamour and colour of the opening ceremony this Saturday at 11 pm with commentators Brian Langly and Jonathan Green.

 The ceremony, featuring some of the most prominent Norwegian artists performing in a glitzy spectacular, is all rather sweet, but will not do much for us die-hard Olympics fans.

  But, hey, live coverage is live coverage and in this malnourished broadcasting zone we will take anything we can get, thank you.

 But getting down to the nitty-gritty, the first major event to be shown live will be the men's downhill skiing this Sunday at 6 pm.

 One of the fastest, most dangerous and thrilling events in the winter games, the downhill skiing never lets up on the excitement and should not, under any circumstances, be missed by local armchair sports fans.

 Top soccer action is on the cards tonight as the finals to the gripping Asian Club Championships come to a climactic ending.

 Prime Sports will be presenting the matches live from 6 pm, with the final, sure to be replayed to the death, on afterwards at 8.30 pm.

 Don't miss it as it promises to be the live footballing event of the month, especially for those who missed their wake-up call for the Super Bowl last week.

 Not quite live but still better than nothing, the semi-finals of the Dubai Tennis Open can be seen at 8 pm this Wednesday.

 Some of the world's top racquet maestros dropped by the desert oasis on their way back to Europe to see whether they could win part of the US$1 million prize.

 The finals of the event can be seen on Friday at 10 pm, so do not look at the results in the paper beforehand! 



Sports fans can tune into chilly Olympic action