2018 Asian Para Games


The 2018 Asian Para Games, officially known as the 3rd Asian Para Games and also known as Indonesia 2018, was a pan-Asian multi-sport event that held from 6 to 13 October 2018 in Indonesia's capital city of Jakarta. The event paralleled the 2018 Asian Games and was held for Asian athletes with disability.
It was the first time Indonesia hosted the games. Events were held in the host city Jakarta and in Bogor Regency of West Java province. The opening ceremony was held at Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium, while the closing ceremony was held at Gelora Bung Karno Madya Stadium next door. The games saw the debut of Bhutan as a participating nation and the introduction of chess to the Asian Para Games' program, with the removal of rowing, sailing, 5 and 7-a-side football, wheelchair dancesport and wheelchair rugby.
China led the medal tally for the third consecutive time. North Korea and South Korea march under the Korean Unification Flag at the opening ceremony and for the first time competed as a unified team in some events. They also won their first medals, one silver and one bronze medal as a unified team. In addition, Philippines and Kuwait won their first ever Asian Para Games gold medals, while Laos and East Timor won their first ever Asian Para Games medals including their first gold medals. There were 16 world, 63 Asian and 246 Asian Para Games records broken during the Games.

Host city

As is the tradition of the event, since 2010, the Asian Para Games are usually held after every Asian Games in the same host country. On 29 February 2016, Indonesia signed the 2018 Asian Para Games host city contract at a ceremony in Jakarta, having confirmed as host city of the event on 21 October 2014 in Incheon, South Korea. A local organising committee named the Indonesia Asian Para Games Organizing Committee led by Raja Sapta Oktohari was formed soon after it was appointed host country of the 2018 Asian Para Games for all preparations, opening, organising, and finalizing the implementation of the event.

Development and preparations

Volunteers

Volunteer recruitment was held from 21 April until 31 July 2018 with a target of 8,000 volunteers.

Torch relay

Like the torch relay of the 2018 Asian Games, the torch relay began at the Mrapen in Central Java on 5 September 2018 where the torch was lit using the Indonesian natural eternal flame to mark the 30-day countdown to the event. The flame was passed to another 8 Indonesian cities.
Below is the schedule of the relay:
A day before the torch relay, the games' torch was introduced, in which its design is inspired by Batik parang motif.

Marketing

Emblem

The emblem of the games was Harmony - Energy of Asia, modelled upon the circular roof of the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, the main venue of the games. It represented harmony and balance within the natural environment and the people of the Asian community. The moving man in the center of the circle symbolize the movement and energy of the 2018 Asian Para Games participating athletes in achieving victory, while the 3 curves surrounding the man's silhouette represents unity in diversity among Asian countries for mutual achievement. 5 different colours are used in the logo to represent the basic elements in Asian philosophy of Living and togetherness. Blue symbolized the sky, orange symbolized the sun, green symbolized the nature, purple symbolized proximity, wisdom, loyalty, and pride and red symbolized the spirit of solidarity.

Mascot

The official mascot of the Games is a Bondol eagle named Momo whose name is short for motivation and mobility. Momo represents the icon of the capital city of Jakarta and also represents spirit. Momo wears a Betawinese Belt with Sarong.

Medals

On 5 October 2018, Indonesia Asian Para Games Organizing Committee released the medal design to the public which is inspired by the Rio 2016 Summer Paralympics medal, featuring the Asian Para Games logo on the obverse and the braille letters on the reverse. Each medal contains differing numbers of metal balls to allow the visually impaired to audibly distinguish their colour by shaking them.

Merchandising

Merchandises including the mascot plush toy were sold at the Gelora Bung Karno Main stadium area including the super store during the games.

Music

Six songs were released to promote the games, including the official theme song "Song of Victory", which was used as the background music for the games' broadcast title sequence. Two songs were not specifically composed for the games, like "Sang Juara" by Naura and Zizi, which is a version of the former's 2017 song "Juara" and a short version of 2016-released song "Manusia Kuat" by Tulus.

Venues

The 2018 Asian Para Games uses most venues that are used to host the 2018 Asian Games events. They are located in Jakarta and neighbouring West Java province.

[Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex]

VenueEventsCapacity
Aquatic StadiumSwimming7,800
Archery FieldArchery293
Basketball HallWheelchair basketball2,400
Hockey Field Lawn bowls818
Main StadiumOpening ceremony, Athletics77,193
Madya StadiumClosing ceremony9,170
IstoraBadminton7,166
Shooting RangeShooting
Tennis Indoor StadiumSitting volleyball3,750

Central Jakarta

VenueEventsCapacityLocation
Cempaka Putih Sports HallChessCempaka Putih
Jakarta International ExpoJudoKemayoran

East Jakarta

VenueEventsCapacityLocation
Jakarta International VelodromeCycling 3,000Rawamangun
POPKI Sports HallWheelchair fencingCibubur

North Jakarta

VenueEventsCapacityLocation
Ecovention AncolTable tennisAncol
Jaya Ancol Bowling CenterBowlingAncol
Klub Kelapa GadingWheelchair tennisKelapa Gading
Tanjung Priok Sports HallBocciaTanjung Priok

South Jakarta

Jakarta Suburb (West Java)

The games uses the same Athletes' Village as the 2018 Asian Games which was built in Kemayoran.

Transport

Like during the 2018 Asian Games, TransJakarta provides free bus rides involving 300 disabled-friendly buses which consists of 200 low-entry buses and 100 high-entry buses during the games for disabled athletes everyday and on weekend days during the games for the locals to encourage people to watch the games.

The Games

Opening ceremony

The opening ceremony of the 2018 Asian Para Games took place on Saturday, 6 October 2018, at the Gelora Bung Karno Main Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia. The event commenced at 19:00 Indonesia Western Time and ended at 21:43 local time. Jay Subiyakto was the Associate creative director of the ceremony. North and South Korea delegates marched together under one unified flag of Korea for the first time.
The games was officially opened by the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo.

Sports

The Games featured 18 sports which were split into 506 events, including chess which was included for the first time in the games' programme.
In addition, there were 16 non-medal events contested at the games, 6 in Athletics and 10 in Swimming.

Participating National Paralympic Committees

43 members of the Asian Paralympic Committee participated at the Games. In addition, the two Koreas competed as one joint team in selected events, the first time doing so in any para sport event which makes it the 44th participant of the games. Both nations also marched together under one flag during the opening and closing ceremonies. Bhutan and Yemen participated for the first time.
Below is a list of all the participating NPCs. The number of competitors per delegation is indicated in brackets.
Participating :Category:Nations at the 2018 Asian Para Games|National Paralympic Committees

  • *
  • *

;Number of athletes by National Paralympic Committees
IPCCountryAthletes
JPN303
INA294
THA237
CHN231
IRI207
KOR201
IND188
MAS126
HKG101
KAZ90
TPE89
IRQ78
PHI57
UZB53
VIE52
SGP44
UAE42
MGL40
SRI35
CAM29
KSA27
MYA26
AFG24
KUW23
MAC23
TLS19
LAO16
BRN14
NEP13
QAT13
OMA9
SYR9
BRU8
JOR8
PRK7
KGZ5
TKM5
PAK4
BHU2
TJK2
LIB1
PLE1
YEM1

* Including athletes represented. Unlike Asian Games, athletes of unified Korean team at the games also competed under respective national team in individual events.

Calendar

Closing ceremony

The 2018 Asian Para Games closing ceremony was held on Saturday, 13 October 2018 at the Gelora Bung Karno Madya Stadium in Jakarta. In addition to local artists and a Hangzhou Asian Para Games promotional video segment, the South Korean girlband AOA performed in the ceremony. Vice Mayor of Hangzhou Wang Hong received the APC flag as the host of the next Games.

Medal table

The 2018 Asian Para Games had 506 events, resulted in 506 medal sets being distributed. One additional gold medal was awarded as there was a first-place tie in Swimming men's S7 100 m backstroke event. As a consequence, no silver medal was awarded in that event. One additional silver medal was awarded as there was a second-place tie in Athletics men's T45/46/47 high jump event. As a consequence, no bronze medal was awarded in that event.
Two bronze medals were awarded in most events in racket sports and one martial art. Furthermore, there was a third-place tie in the Bowling mixed singles TPB10 event, giving a total of 69 additional bronze medals.
On the other hand, 7 silvers and 37 bronze medals were not awarded in 37 events in 7 sports due to lack of participants: 2 bronze each in Archery and chess, 1 silver and 4 bronze in cycling, 4 bronze in lawn bowls, 6 silver and 18 bronzes in athletics, 1 bronze in swimming and 6 bronzes in table tennis. A silver medal was not awarded in judo due to the disqualification of a judoka in the finals. Some medals in athletics and judo were reallocated due to doping violation.
As a result, a total of 1,541 medals comprising 507 gold medals, 497 silver medals and 537 bronze medals were awarded to athletes.

NPCs without medal

Concerns and controversies