Asian Games

Asian Games, which is a pan- Asian multi sporting event was first held in the year 1951. The eighteenth edition of the Asian Games is going to take place on 18 August 2018 to 2 September 2018. The event will be co-hosted by two Indonesian cities - Jakarta and Palembang, the capital of south Sumatra province. The opening and closing ceremony will be held at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta. It will be first time after 1962 that Indonesia will be hosting the Asian Games. Nearly 10,000 athletes of 45 countries will participate to compete in 39 sports. eSports and canoe polo will be contested as demonstration sports for the first time.

Originally Vietnam was selected as the host of 2018 Games but it withdrew the participation in 2014 due to the financial reasons. Indonesia ultimately won the bid and started preparing for the event.

Mascot

There are three mascots for 2018 Asian Games which are Bhin Bhin - greater bird of paradise, Atung - Bawean deer and Kaka - a Javan rhinoceros. All the three animals represent Eastern , Central and Western regions of Indonesia. Bhin Bhin symbolises strategy and wears a vest with Asmat traditional motifs derived froom the Papua. Atung symbolises speed and "never give up fighting" spirit and wears a batik parang saring from Central Indonesian region. And Kaka symbolises power and wears a flower motif from Palembang's Songket scarf. Earlier Derawan, a bird-of-paradise character was chosen as a mascot but the organisers withdrew the design after facing massive criticism. It wore the uniform which was used in Indonesian martial art pencaksilar for representing company's heritage in sports.

Logo

The logo for the 2018 Asian Games was initially chosen to be the same bird as the original mascot of the games. The new logo, themed "Energy of Asia", depicts an aerial view of Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, which was built for when Jakarta hosted the 1962 Asian Games.

The official logo for 2018 Asian Games is the same bird as the mascot of the games. A competition was conducted by the Indonesian ministry after which the logo for the games was selected. The new logo possess the theme "Energy of Asia" which depicts the aerial view of Golera Bung Karno Stadium. The stadium was built in 1962 when Jataka hosted the Asian Games for the first time.

Official song

A music album has been launched titled Asian Games 2018: Energy of Asia for the 2018 Asian Games by the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee (INASGOC). The album has 13 songs involving various musical artists of cross-genre.

Sports

Earlier 42 sports were finalised for Asian Games by the Olympic Council of Asia(OCA), however, the number was reduced to 39 as cricket, sambo and surfing were eliminated from the list. The final list has all sports which are going to be featured in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games (excluding surfing). eSports has been included as medal event and events like 3*3 basketball and BMX freestyle have also been included.

Venue

All the venues for 2018 Asian Games are located in and around Gelora Bung Kamo Sports Complex, Central Jakarta, and Palembang. A new complex has been built in Kemayoran, Jakarta for Athletes which will also be used for Asian Paralympic Games. The complex can accommodate over 20,000 people. The overall cost of construction was 238 million dollars and it was developed by the Ministry of Public works and housing.

India at Asian Games 2018

As per media reports, 524 members have been considered to participate in 39 sports in the tournament. This would be India 18th appearance in the Asian Games and Javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will be the flag bearer for India in the opening ceremony.

The sponsor for the Indian contingent as announced by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) is Edelweiss Financial Services Limited which is a leading diversified financial services company in India.

Year	Host Nation	Host City	Dates	Participating Nations	Athletes
2014	South Korea	Incheon	September 19 - October 4
2010	People's Republic of China	Gungzhou	November 12 - 27
2006	Qatar	Doha	December 1 - 15	45	9520
2002	South Korea	Susan	September 29 - October 14	44	7711
1998	Thailand	Bangkok	December 6 - 20	41	6554
1994	Japan	Hiroshima	October 2 - 16	42	6828
1990	People's Republic of China	Beijing	September 22 - October 7	36	6122
1986	South Korea	Seoul	September 20 - October 5	22	4839
1982	India	New Delhi	November 19 - December 4	23	3411
1978	Thailand	Bangkok	December 9 - 20	19	3842
1974	Iran	Tehran	September 1 - 16	19	3010
1970	Thailand	Bangkok	August 24 - September 4	16	2400
1966	Thailand	Bangkok	December 9 - 20	16	1945
1962	Indonesia	Jakarta	August 24 - September 4	12	1460
1958	Japan	Tokyo	May 28 - June 1	16	1820
1954	Philippines	Manila	May 1 - 9	19	970
1951	India	New Delhi	March 4 - 11	11	489

Last Updated on : August 13, 2018