Preparation for the 13th Asian Games, which are due to be held in Thailand in 10 days time, has been fraught with logistical and financial problems.

Traffic in Bangkok is bad at the best of times

With just 10 days to go before the opening ceremony on December 6th, frenzied efforts are underway to finish work on specially built sporting facilities and link roads around the capital Bangkok.

The event is the second largest sporting competition in the world after the Olympic Games with an estimated 8,000 athletes from 43 countries.

Officially the explanation for the Saudis abrupt withdrawal is that the closing phase of the event will coincide with the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Thai officials, however, say the Saudi decision has more to do with the tense relationship between the two countries following incidents that included the murder of three Saudi diplomats in Bangkok in 1990.

The pullout is just the latest in a catalogue of problems to beset the Games.

Chaotic organisation and the withdrawal of financial sponsors led to the abandonment of some planned facilities.

Building work on several of the projects that did proceed has been delayed, including the press centre, which visiting journalists discovered on Thursday is still without an electricity supply.

Ticket sales have been well below expectations - the inevitable result, according to organisers, of the regional economic crisis.

Despite intense publicity in the run-up to the games, many Thais seem more worried by the impact of the two-week event on Bangkok's traffic jams - horrendous at the best of times.