Kazakhstan vowed to win the third place in the medal tally in the upcoming 15th Asian Games, instead of the fourth they claimed four years ago.

"It is a secret to tell you how many gold medals we plan to take in Doha, but I think Kazakhstan will bring more gold medals than we did in Busan Games in 2002," Ilsiyav Kanagatov, chef de mission of Kazakhstan, told Xinhua after the flag-raising ceremony on Monday.

Kazakhstan, with a population of 15,400,000, won 20 gold, 26 silver and 30 bronze medals in Busan, placing fourth in the medal tally. And they claimed one gold, four silver and three bronze in the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004.

"Top three is always our dream, but we can't tell whether we could climb to the third place even if we won more gold medals," he added.

Kazakhstan sent a 460-people delegation including 357 athletes to compete in the Games and shooting, boxing, weightlifting and wrestling are their gold medal hopes.

Welterweight boxer Bakhtiyar Artayeki will be hoping to back up his gold from the Athens Olympics with an Asian Games medal.