DOHA - Iraqi 10-year-old Amer Ali, the youngest swimmer at the Asian Games, will have to speed up a little before winning gold medals, but just reaching Qatar was an achievement.

An official leads (bottom) Iraq's Amer Ali, 10 and other swimmers to the pool before before the men's 200m individual medley swimming heats at the 15th Asian Games in Doha December 6, 2006. [AP]

The eldest of three brothers from Baghdad, Amer is silent when asked about the conflict in Iraq with his coach Sarmal Mohammed urging journalists to avoid asking questions about the bloodshed.

Amer, who is just 1.55m tall and weighs 44 kilogramms, prefers to talk about his ambition to become a champion butterfly racer rather than dwell on his country's current problems.

"I want to be like them," he said, pointing to the Japanese and Chinese champions who are sharing most of the gold medals at the Asian Games this week. "I want to win for Iraq."

His coach said that conditions in Iraq were tough for little Amer who can only train once a week in Iraq's only 50-metre pool.

"Sometimes he shows up and can't train because the heating has been turned off," said Sarmal. "With all the problems in Iraq, he is a courageous boy."

Singapore's Lim Zhi Cong (2nd from bottom) and Hong Kong's Cheung Siu-hang (2nd from top) applaud Iraq's Amer Ali (top), 10, during the men's 200m individual medley heats at the 15th Asian Games in Doha December 6, 2006. [Reuters]

Iraq has three swimmers here and all have competed in the morning heats but none has managed to break into a single final in the evening.

But Amer is the most promising and began the long haul to stepping up his speed by setting a personal best in the 100m backstroke on Tuesday.

He also competed in the 100m backstroke and his final ace, the 200m individual medley on Wednesday.

It was a harsh learning experience. His time of 2min 55.32 sec was a long way off the fastest time of 2:04.62 set by Japan's Hidemasa Sano.

"Yesterday I swam a personal best and I am pleased about that," said Amer, who returns home with the other swimmers, 14-year-old Ali Ahmed and 12-year-old Ali Ali on Friday.

Conditons are so bad in Baghdad that he believes his future as a swimmer may lie abroad.

"I would like to train in another country if possible so I can improve and get a better time. Who knows, maybe one day I will be able to win a gold medal for Iraq."