Asian Games: Indonesia to raise curtain on Asia's biggest multisport event

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JAKARTA. KAZINFORM Asia's biggest multisport event, attracting more than 10,000 athletes from across the continent and offshore islands, gets under way Saturday 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 détente, KYODO NEWS reports. 


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. Those include skateboarding and sport climbing, which are among five new categories added to the program for Tokyo 2020.

Esports, or competitive video gaming, will also make its debut at the quadrennial games as a demonstration sport before it becomes a medal event in 2022.

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