Jakarta and Palembang Ready to Stage Successful 2018 Asian Games
The secretary general of the 2018 Asian Games has assured delegates attending the World Press Briefing that the two co-host cities of Jakarta and Palembang will be ready to host the event.
Eris Herryanto welcomed 170 media members to the briefing at the Hotel Borobudur in Jakarta.
“We have about 140 days to finish our preparations for the Asian Games and, with the work we have already done, I can say that we are ready to have a successful Asian Games,” he said in Indonesia’s capital.
“In February, we had a test event with eight sports and this was very useful for us.
“We learned a lot.
“The test event provided us with many lessons in several areas such as arrival and departure, medical services and the Athletes’ Village.”
Herryanto outlined the key events coming up with the most important the Torch Relay.
The flame is due to be lit in India’s capital New Delhi, which hosted the first edition of the Asian Games in 1951, on July 15.
It is then set to embark on a month-long, 18,000 kilometres tour of Indonesia, taking in 40 cities.
Herryanto said the flame would be received by Indonesia President Joko Widodo at the Presidential Palace on August 17 – the day before the Opening Ceremony.
Reading out a message from the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) President Sheikh Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah, OCA Media Committee member Tony Mariadass of Malaysia claimed the Asian Games were admired and envied by the other four continental associations in the Olympic Movement.
“The OCA is very grateful for the long and loyal support of the Asian media in building up the Asian Games to become the second biggest international multi-sport event after the Summer Olympics,” he said.
“The media have played a big part in this success story.”
The 18th edition of the Asian Games is scheduled to be held from August 18 to September 2 with 10,000 athletes from 45 National Olympic Committees (NOCs) competing in 40 sports, 67 disciplines and 463 events.
In addition, there will be 5,000 members of the media, including 1,500 from Indonesia, 5,000 team officials from the 45 NOCs, and 30,000 volunteers and workforce.
The World Press Briefing was attended by 90 media members from Indonesia and 80 from overseas.
The total number of participants was 200, including Organising Committee staff, Government officials and OCA representatives led by Vinod Tiwari, director of NOC and international relations.
Jakarta and Palembang 2018 organisers admitted that February’s test events had shown issues they will seek to fix prior to the Games.
The test events drew to a close on February 15, with competitions in athletics, archery, basketball, boxing, pencak silat, taekwondo, volleyball and weightlifting taking place from February 8.
Harry Warganegara, the deputy field operations manager, stated that some problems had been raised during the week-long tests.
Electrical issues led to a basketball match being moved, while more pressing concerns centre around the length of the journey between some venues and the Athletes’ Village.
It was claimed in some cases, the travel times exceeded the maximum limit.
Courtesy : insidethegames
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