Asia's biggest multisport event, attracting more than 10,000 athletes from across the continent and offshore islands, gets under way Saturday (August 18) in Indonesia for two weeks of competition in 40 sports ranging from the mainstream to the esoteric.

The eighteenth edition of the Asian Games, running through Sept. 2, will be an important proving ground for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games, a chance for Indonesia to show it can host a major sporting event and a special occasion for North Korea and South Korea to demonstrate their detente.

Some 40,000 troops and police officers have been deployed to ensure security and prevent potential terrorist attacks during the 16-day sporting spectacular, the world's largest after the Olympics.

A day after celebrating the 73rd anniversary of Indonesia's independence, President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo, who runs for a second term next April, is due to declare the games open during a ceremony Saturday at Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno Stadium.

Following the ceremony featuring popular Indonesian singers and thousands of dancers, athletes from 45 countries and regions will vie in 465 events including non-Olympic disciplines such as kabaddi, sepak takraw and wushu.

All 32 Tokyo Olympics sports, with the lone exception of surfing, will be contested in the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, the provincial capital of South Sumatra.

Indonesia invited North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae In to the opening ceremony.

China has constantly topped the Asian Games' medal standings since 1982. This time, it has the second largest contingent of 845 athletes after Indonesia.

Source: Kyodo News

BDST: 1227 HRS, AUG 18, 2018
SI/SMS