Four days after the opening ceremony of the 15th Asian Games in Doha, capital of Qatar, the sailing competition of the Asiad began to race on Tuesday afternoon on the water of Doha Bay after delay due to weak wind.

"The races on all the four courses have started up to now," the venue media manager for the sailing races Vanessa Bellamy told reporters at the Doha Sailing Club, which is the venue for the races, at 1:15 p.m. (1015 GMT).

Earlier in the morning, the sailing races were delayed due to lack of wind.

The sailors and wind sufers from 19 Asian countries and regions raced out of the Doha Sailing Club, which located at the south end of Doha Bay and was founded in 1959, competing on four different courses, except the course for the Matching Racing in Beneteau First Class 7.5, on the open sea, which are also the waters that hosted the Asian Sailing Championships in March, 2006.

At the 15th Doha Asian Games, the sailing competition has 14 events in 11 classes for men, women and mixed teams and it also includes boardsailing.

Men will compete in six male-only races while women will compete in four female-only races. The two genders will compete together in four open classes.

According to the Doha Asian Games Organizing Committee (DAGOC),it's intended that all events will sail two fleet races on each day of the scheduled competition except the match racing whose schedule will be decided later. All classes will sail 12 races to complete the series.

Sailing, also called yachting, is a water sport which involves the movement of a boat across a body of water using wind as the only source of power.

Competitive sailing is held on specially marked courses on lakes or the open sea, with competitors taking part in various categories.

Sailing was first contested at the 1900 Olympics and was introduced into the Asiad at the 6th Asian Games in 1970 in Bangkok, Thailand.