Thailand insists 'no problems' over Asian Cup hosting

BANGKOK, Oct 13 (Reuters) Thailand will have no problems co-hosting next year's Asian Cup despite concerns that months of political instability has severely affected its preparations, a senior Thai soccer official told Reuters today.

Chaiyapak Siriwat, deputy president of the Football Authority of Thailand, said Asian soccer chiefs had no reason to worry about the Kingdom's readiness to host the tournament, despite nine months of political stalemate which led to the government's ouster in a military coup last month.

Representatives of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) will visit Bangkok next week to seek reassurances that the new military-backed interim government supports the tournament and money is made available to cover costs and upgrade facilities.

''The AFC is concerned about the political situation and if we still have backing for this tournament, but it will all be fine,'' Chaiyapak said.

''I've spoken to the new minister of sport and he says everything will be as it was before the crisis.'' Prior to the bloodless military putsch on September 19, the AFC had threatened to strip Thailand of its staging rights for the tournament with Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia after it failed to meet deadlines for improving its national stadium.

At the time, Thailand had no functioning parliament and a caretaker government unable to make key budgetary decisions after snap April 2 elections called by under-fire prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra were annulled.

Chaiyapak said funding was now available to complete the necessary work but insisted delays in upgrading the Rajamangala stadium were not because of Thai soccer officials dragging their feet.

''We couldn't help this situation, it wasn't our fault, but now, everything is going good,'' he said.

''We've started doing the work but the political crisis had delayed things.

''Now, we have no problems with funding. The budget has been approved.'' On Wednesday, Iraq, Oman, China, South Korea and Iran booked their places in the 2007 Asian Cup finals, which take place from July 7-29.

REUTERS PM RK1520