Olympic Council of Asia

18th Asian Games 2018 comes into view for NOCs 19/05/2016

18th Asian Games 2018 comes into view for NOCs

The Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Senayan, Jakarta, will host the opening and closing ceremony of the 18th Asian Games in 2018.

Bangkok, Thailand, May 19, 2016: Asia’s 45 National Olympic Committees are being given a detailed briefing this week on the work that is going on behind the scenes of the next Asian Games in Indonesia. Organisers of the 18th Asian Games, which will take place in Jakarta and Palembang in 2018, are presenting a wide-ranging progress report to the NOC delegates at the Olympic Council of Asia/Olympic Solidarity Regional Forums in Bangkok and Doha.

With 15,000 athletes and officials from the 45 NOCs expected to take part, along with 8,000 media and 30,000 volunteers and workforce, the 18th Asian Games are receiving support from the very top of the country to ensure a successful event for Indonesia, the Asian continent and the global Olympic movement.

The Steering Committee is led by the President of the Republic, Joko Widodo, while the Minister of Youth and Sport, Imam Nahrawi, is Chairman of the In-Charge Committee. The President of the Indonesian Olympic Committee, Erick Thohir, is President of the organising committee INASGOC, supported by the Secretary General of the Indonesian Olympic Committee, Dody Iswandi, as INASGOC Secretary.

"As you can see, the Indonesian Government, from the President down, is totally committed to the success of the 18th Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang in 2018," Harry Warganegara Harun, Chairman of the Sport Development Commission of the Indonesian Olympic Committee, told NOC delegates.

The 18th Asian Games will run from August 18 to September 2, 2018, with the opening and closing ceremony at the iconic Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Main Stadium, which was built for the 1962 Asian Games. The GBK sports complex, with 14 venues, is located in downtown Senayan and is being completely renovated for the Asian Games. Most of the work is expected to be completed by July 2017.

In addition, organisers will use three vast exhibition halls in Jakarta to stage a variety of indoor sports, while the equestrian centre is being expanded and upgraded and the velodrome will be transformed from an outdoor venue to a modern indoor sports centre that can be used for other sports after the Asian Games, such as badminton, wrestling and kickboxing.

Palembang, the capital of South Sumatra and an hour’s flight from Jakarta, has vast experience of hosting multi-sport events, notably the South East Asian Games for 11 regional NOCs at the Jakabaring Sports City in 2011.

Palembang will stage around 10 sports during the 18th Asian Games, including preliminary rounds of men’s and women’s basketball and men’s football, the whole of the women’s football competition and also the entire beach volleyball competition.

The sports programme for 2018 is not fixed, as the organisers and OCA are waiting to see which sports are added to the programme for Tokyo 2020 at the IOC Session in Rio this August. Once the sports programme for Tokyo 2020 is finalised, the OCA will approve the final Asian Games programme in September 2016.

*Sports programme update for 18th Asian Games, Jakarta-Palembang 2018

Olympic Sports (28): Archery, aquatics, athletics, badminton, basketball (including 3x3), boxing, canoe/kayak, cycling, equestrian, fencing, football, golf, gymnastics, handball, hockey, judo, modern pentathlon, rowing, rugby, sailing, shooting, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis/soft tennis, triathlon, volleyball/beach volleyball, weightlifting, wrestling.

Non-Olympic Sports (8): Martial arts (six events - karate, kurash, wushu, sambo, pencak silat and jujitsu), sepak takraw, kabaddi, sport climbing, cricket, bowling, squash, baseball/softball.

*Proposed Additional Sports (2): Mechanical Sports (paragliding and jet ski), bridge.

*One or two sports may be added by the organising committee, approved by the OCA, depending on the sports programme for Tokyo 2020 to be decided by the IOC Session in Rio in August.

Note: The organising committee’s proposal for mechanical sports (paragliding and jet ski) has not yet been approved by the OCA.

Sports at Palembang: Basketball (men and women preliminary rounds), canoe/kayak, football (men – preliminary round; women – all the competition including the final), rowing, shooting, tennis/soft tennis, triathlon, beach volleyball, bowling, sepak takraw, sport climbing. (*Bridge).

*Organisers will use the 3rd Asian Youth Games - due to be held in Jakarta from November 12-19, 2017 - as a test event for the 18th Asian Games. The opening and closing ceremony, as well as the athletics, will be held at the Madya Stadium in the GBK complex.

The nine sports, with 15 disciplines and 117 events, proposed for the AYG are: Athletics, badminton, 3x3 basketball, cycling (mountain bike and BMX), football, taekwondo, karate, pencak silat and wushu. Roller sport is also being considered.