The 2018 Asian Games (Indonesian: Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018, Asian Games 2018), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018, is a pan-Asian multi-sport event being held from 18 August to 2 September 2018 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.
For the first time, the Asian Games are being co-hosted in two cities; the Indonesian capital of Jakarta (which is hosting the Games for the first time since 1962), and Palembang, the capital of the South Sumatra province. Events are held in and around the two cities, including venues in Bandung and some places in the provinces of West Java and Banten. The opening and closing ceremonies of the Games will be held at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta.
For the first time, eSports and canoe polo will be contested as demonstration sports. eSports is expected to be a medal event at the 2022 Asian Games.
Video 2018 Asian Games
Bidding process
Hanoi
Hanoi, Vietnam was originally selected to be the host after they won the bid against two other candidates, Surabaya and Dubai. They were awarded the winning bid on 8 November 2012, with 29 votes against Surabaya's 14 votes. Dubai pulled out at the last minute, instead announcing their intention to focus on future bids. The UAE's National Olympic Committee's vice-president denied any pullout and claimed that Dubai "did not apply for hosting 2019 Asian Games" and had "only considered" doing so.
However, in March 2014, there were some concerns about Vietnam's ability to host. These included concerns over whether the anticipated budget of US$150 million was realistic. There were claims that the government would eventually spend over US$300 million. In addition, critics were concerned that several stadiums built in conjunction with 2003 Southeast Asian Games had not been utilized since. Former chairman of the Vietnam Olympic Committee Ha Quang Du also claimed that hosting the Asian Games would not boost tourism in Vietnam.
On 17 April 2014, the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguy?n T?n D?ng officially announced Hanoi's withdrawal from hosting. He cited unpreparedness and economic recession as the main reasons for the withdrawal, saying they have left the country unable to afford the construction of facilities and venues. Many Vietnamese people supported the decision to withdraw. No penalty was imposed for the withdrawal.
Appointment of Jakarta and Palembang
After Hanoi's withdrawal, the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) said that Indonesia, China, and the United Arab Emirates were major candidates under consideration to host. Indonesia was widely regarded as a favourite, since Surabaya was the runner-up of the previous bid, and willing to do so if selected. The Philippines and India expressed their interest about hosting the Games, but India failed to submit a late bid because it was unable to get an audience with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after being given an extended deadline by the OCA.
On 5 May 2014, the OCA visited some Indonesian cities including Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Palembang. At this time Surabaya decided to drop their bid to host the Games and instead focus on hosting the already scheduled 2021 Asian Youth Games. On 25 July 2014, during a meeting in Kuwait City, the OCA appointed Jakarta as the host of the Games with Palembang as the supporting host. Jakarta was chosen because of its well-equipped sports facilities, adequate transportation networks, and other facilities such as hotels and lodgings for guests. On 20 September 2014, Indonesia signed the host city contract, and during the closing ceremony of 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, Indonesia was appointed symbolically by the OCA to host the next Games.
The OCA originally planned to hold these Games in 2019 rather than 2018, so that Asian Games would be held in the year immediately before the next Summer Olympics, rather than two years before. After they were awarded to Indonesia, the OCA backtracked on these plans and kept the Games in 2018, so that they will not interfere with the 2019 Indonesian general elections.
Maps 2018 Asian Games
Development and preparations
Costs
By 2015, the central government had allocated a budget of IDR 3 trillion (USD 224 million) to prepare for the Games, with regional administrations also expected to supply some part of the funding. However, by July 2018, the budget allocation for the Games had been reported to be IDR 6.6 trillion (USD 450 million) including IDR 869 billion (USD 59 million) from sponsorships .
Branding and design
The emblem for the 2018 Asian Games was first unveiled on 9 September 2015, in celebration of the country's National Sports Day. The emblem featured a stylised depiction of a cenderawasih, a rare species of a bird in Indonesia.
Organizers withdrew the design in January 2016, after it was widely criticized for its outdated appearance. Its accompanying mascot, Drawa, was also criticized for having little connection to Indonesian culture and history (with some Indonesians joking that Drawa looked more like a chicken than a cenderawasih). An open call for a new design was held, resulting in 60 submissions. The final design was unveiled on 28 July 2016; titled Energy of Asia, the emblem is modeled upon Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, and is intended to symbolize unity among Asian countries.
The same day the logo was unveiled, three new mascots were also unveiled, replacing the previous cenderawasih mascot, which are Bhin Bhin--a greater bird-of-paradise, Atung--a Bawean deer, and Kaka--a Javan rhinoceros. They represent the Eastern, Central, and Western regions of Indonesia and also strategy, speed and strength respectively. Each mascots also wear different clothes: Bhin Bhin wears a vest with Asmat pattern details, Atung wears a Sarong with Batik pattern, and Kaka wears a Songket with flower pattern. All three mascots are named after the official national motto of Indonesia, Bhinneka Tunggal Ika. Both the new emblem and mascots were designed by Feat Studio in Indonesia.
In July 2018, Indonesia Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC) released the medal design to the public, featuring the Asian Games logo and the batik style of all Indonesian regions, reflects the cultural diversity of Indonesia and their unity. In addition to cultural diversity, batik motifs also reflect the diversity of ethnic, religious, and racial Asian communities who participated in the 18th Asian Games.
Marketing and promotion
On 18 August 2017, simultaneous events were held at Jakarta's National Monument and Palembang's Benteng Kuto Besak to mark the one-year milestone before the Games. The event in Jakarta was attended by president Joko Widodo, and featured performances by Taeyeon and Kim Hyo-yeon of K-pop group Girls' Generation. Countdown clocks were unveiled at the Selamat Datang Monument and in front of Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium.
Several fun run events had been held in some Asian countries since December 2017, with Lahore, Pakistan as the first city to organize the fun run event.
On May 2018, an event marking 100-day milestone before the Games was held, featuring the introduction of Asian Games torch. The torch design is inspired by traditional weapons named golok from Jakarta and skin from Palembang, South Sumatra.
Official songs
On 13 July 2018, the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC) released an official music album of the 2018 Asian Games titled Asian Games 2018: Energy of Asia. The album consists of 13 songs involves several cross-genre musical artists.
Torch relay
The torch relay began at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium in New Delhi, host of the 1st Asian Games, on 15 July 2018. The flame will be generated from a parabolic mirror directed straight at the sun. On 18 July 2018, a ceremony took place in Brahma field by the 9th century Hindu temple of Prambanan near Yogyakarta, where the torch's flame from India were fused together with an Indonesian natural eternal flame taken from Mrapen, Central Java. Subsequently, the Torch Relay Concert were performed marking the start of torch relay throughout the country.
The relay travelled through 54 cities in 18 provinces in Indonesia, including host cities. The relay covered a total distance of 18,000 kilometres (11,000 mi). The relay finished on 17 August, the 73rd anniversary of the Proclamation of Indonesian Independence in the National Monument, Jakarta before being carried into the opening ceremony at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium the next day.
Venues and infrastructures
Venues
For the games, some venues will be built, renovated, and prepared across four provinces in Indonesia: Jakarta, South Sumatra, Banten, and West Java. The facilities for the Asian Games 2018 are located in the capital city of Jakarta and Palembang (South Sumatra), in four different sports clusters (three in Jakarta and one in Palembang). However, 15 arenas for matches and 11 training arenas in West Java and Banten which shares border with Jakarta, will be used to support implementation of the 2018 Asian Games. There will be total 80 venues for competitions and training. The organisation hopes to keep the cost down by using the existing sports facilities and infrastructure, including those venues built for the 2011 Southeast Asian Games, and after the test event of the 2018 Asian Games in February, Inasgoc moved several sports that will be held in Jakarta International Expo to Jakarta Convention Center.
Jakarta
Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex in Jakarta will alone host 13 sports after renovation. The 55-year-old Main Stadium's capacity is being reduced from 88,000 spectators to 76,127. A facial recognition system will also install at the stadium in anticipation of terror threats. A Velodrome is being renovated at Rawamangun in East Jakarta, at a cost of US$ 40 million for cycling, badminton, futsal, basketball, and wrestling. An equestrian facility is being renovated at Pulomas with a cost of US$ 30.8 million, which could host up to 1,000 spectators. It was set to be equipped with 100 stables, athletes lodging, an animal hospital, training places, and a parking area on a 35-hectare plot of land.
Palembang
Jakabaring Sport City complex at Palembang will host for other sports events. Several plans has been raised to add and improves the facilities in the complex, including a capacity upgrade of Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium from 36,000 to 60,000 seats which was cancelled, instead the capacity was decreased to 27,000 after installing individual seats to whole stadium tribunes along with pitch and other facilities improvements in the stadium. The new venue in Jakabaring Sport City is a 40-lane bowling alley which was completed in late May 2018. Eight additional tennis courts was built in the complex for the Games. The length of canoeing and rowing venue in Jakabaring Lake was extended to 2,300 meters along with rowing facilities and a tribune which was built on the lake shore. Other existing venues which will be used for Asian Games were also had been renovated, including Ranau Sports Hall as sepak takraw venue.
Athletes' Village
Athletes village in Jakarta is built at Kemayoran at an area of 10 hectares land, which has 7,424 apartments in 10 towers. Total accommodation capacity of 22,272 at the village exceeds International Olympic Committee standards, which require Olympics hosts to provide rooms for 14,000 athletes. The Athletes Village inside the Jakabaring Sport City at Palembang will house 3,000 athletes and officials.
Transport
As part of the Games preparation, the construction of the Jakarta MRT and Jakarta LRT was accelerated, though neither were ready for general commercial operation at the time of the opening ceremonies. A line of Jakarta LRT connected the athletes' village at Kemayoran in Central Jakarta to the Velodrome at Rawamangun in East Jakarta. City bus operator TransJakarta added 416 buses to serve the officials, and also provide free rides on selected days during the Games.
Palembang upgraded their transportation facilities ahead for the Games by building 25 kilometres of the Palembang Light Rail Transit from Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport to Jakabaring Sport City which opened for public use in July 2018. Sultan Mahmud Badaruddin II International Airport is expanding its existing arrival and departure terminals to increase its capacity and also connecting the airport with the light rail transit (LRT) terminal by building a skybridge. Other transportation facilities such as toll roads, flyovers, and bridges will be also built in and around the city.
The Games
Opening ceremony
The opening ceremony started at 19:00 Western Indonesian Time (UTC+7) on Saturday, 18 August 2018. Wishnutama, CEO of Indonesian TV network NET. was the creative director for the ceremony. The ceremony stage showcased a towering 26 meter-high mountain with a waterfall as its background, accompanied by Indonesian plants and flowers. North and South Korea delegates marched together under one unified flag of Korea, which marked the first time both countries did so in the Asian Games after 12 years.
The games was officially opened by the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.
Sports
In March 2017, the Olympic Council of Asia initially announced that the Games would feature 484 events in 42 sports, including the 28 permanent Olympic sports contested at the 2016 Summer Olympics, the five additional sports that will be contested at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, as well as events in other non-Olympic sports. In April 2017, the OCA approved reductions in the programme in response to cost concerns; belt wrestling, cricket, kurash, skateboarding, sambo, and surfing were dropped from the programme, and there was to be a reduced number of competitions in bridge, jet ski, jujitsu, paragliding, sport climbing, taekwondo (in particular, all non-Olympic weight classes), and wushu. These changes reduced the total number of events to 431.
The final programme was unveiled in September 2017, increasing it to 462 events in 40 disciplines as the second-largest programme in Asian Games history. Additional disciplines being introduced at the 2020 Summer Olympics were also added, including 3x3 basketball and BMX freestyle.
For the first time in Asian Games history, eSports and canoe polo will be contested as a demonstration sport in the Games. Six video game titles will be featured in the event.
- Demonstration sports
- eSports
- Canoe polo
Participating National Olympic Committees
All 46 members of the Olympic Council of Asia are participating in the games. It has been agreed that North Korea and South Korea would compete as a unified team in some events under the title "Korea" (COR), as they did at the 2018 Winter Olympics. Both nations would also march together under a unified flag during the opening and closing ceremonies.
Originally set to compete as Independent Asian Athletes, the Kuwaitis are allowed to compete under their own flags just two days before the opening ceremony.
Below is a list of all the participating NOCs. The number of competitors per delegation is indicated in brackets.
- Number of athletes by National Olympic Committees (by highest to lowest)
Calendar
Source
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony will be held on Sunday, 2 September 2018. In addition to local artists, South Korean boy band such as Super Junior and iKon will be performing in the ceremony.
Medal table
The top ten ranked NOCs at these Games are listed below.
* Host nation (Indonesia)
Concerns and controversies
Before the Games, authorities in Indonesia were confident both host cities will be ready for the Games although have had only four years to prepare rather than the usual six after stepping in to fill the gap when Vietnam, whose city of Hanoi was originally chosen to host these Games by the Olympic Council of Asia, dropped out in 2014 citing concerns over costs. On top of that, work in both host cities was delayed throughout 2015 because government funding was not immediately available.
Various concerns from traffic congestion problems, security, series of terror attacks, which local police claimed is a pre-Asian Games crackdown on terror suspects and petty street criminals, and provocations by Indonesian fans at venues.
The host cities also struggles with air pollution and river pollution problems, where authorities covered a polluted, foul-smelling river near the Asian Games athletes' village in Jakarta with black nylon mesh over fears it will be an eyesore at the showpiece event.
Several controversies during the Games, such as flags drops during the medal ceremony, match officiating problems.
A doping case from Turkmenistan wrestler was recorded, which threatened to expel the sport from future tournaments.
See also
- 2018 Asian Para Games
- 2018 Winter Olympics
Notes
References
External links
- Official website
- OCA website
Source of article : Wikipedia
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