Indonesia gears up for 2018 Asian Games

Jakarta. Indonesia will host the 18th Asian Games in 2018. It is hoped that the country would be victorious as it holds the continent’s biggest multisport event.
Vice President Jusuf Kalla stated this in his remarks during the grand launch of the logo for the quadrennial event, held at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) stadium today.

The logo for the 18th games depicts the image of a cendrawasih or bird-of-paradise, a rare species in Indonesia exclusively found in Papua, while its mascot is called “Drawa”, shortened from the bird’s name.

The Vice President then instructed the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Indonesian Olympic Committee (KOI), as well as Jakarta and South Sumatra administration to hasten the infrastructure preparations for the games.

He recounted that when Indonesian hosted the Asian Games in 1962, former President Soekarno built the GBK stadium.

“I appreciated the Governor of South Sumatra who has developed Palembang, the province’s capital city, to get ready for the games,” said Mr Kalla, adding that the Governor of Jakarta also has to take more focused and optimal efforts to prepare the city for the games.

Previously, Youth and Sports Minister Imam Nachrowi said that cenderawasih is chosen as the logo for the games as it represents Indonesia as a whole. Drawa, the mascot, he added, is dressed in pencak silat (Indonesian traditional martial arts) which also symbolizes the country.

The games are scheduled to run from Aug. 18 until Sept. 2 in Jakarta and Palembang, the capital city of South Sumatra.