18th Asian Games 2018 begins in Indonesia

The 18th Asian Games 2018 begins today (Saturday) in Indonesia. The Asian Games  to be held from 18th August to 2nd September 2018.

The games will take place simultaneously in Jakarta, capital of Indonesia and Palembang, capital of the province of South Sumatra.

This will be the second time that Indonesia hosts the Asian Games. The first one was held in Jakarta in 1962, under President Soekarno.

This will be the first time that the  Asian Games will be held in two cities: Jakarta and Palembang.

Jakarta is doing its utmost to provide better facilities for the upcoming Asian Games, with the brand new construction of three key infrastructures: the LRT, the Velodrome and a certified Equestrian Centre. Vice President, Jusuf Kalla, has recently inspected their development and was pleased with their progress so far.    Meanwhile, Palembang has enhanced the Jakabaring Sriwijaya stadium from its current 23,419 bench capacity, to upgraded fittings of 40,000 spectator benches for spectators.

18th Asian Games Logo and Mascots

The Logo for the 18th Asian Games is a colorful circle taken from the shape of the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, and named the Energy of Asia.

The 18th Asian Games also introduces three mascots namely Bhin Bhin, Atung and Kaka. The mascots represent three aspects of these competitive games, being: Strategy, Speed and Strength. Each mascot wears special attire inspired by the traditional textiles from Papua, Jakarta and Palembang. Bhin Bhin comes in the image of the Cendrawasih or Bird of Paradise (mainly found in Papua), Atung is a Bawean Deer, symbol of speed, and Kaka is a Rhino representing strength.

The Asian Games was first held on March 4-11th 1951 in New Delhi India. It was a competition between 491 athletes from 11 National Olympic Committees of Afghanistan, Burma, Ceylon/Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Iran, Japan, Nepal, Philippine, Singapore, and Thailand.

Source: dailysun