The Director General of the Olympic Council of Asia, Mr Husain Al Musallam, believes the Asian Games legacy can be seen clearly in Jakarta.
The capital of Indonesia, together with Palembang, capital of South Sumatra province, will co-host the OCA’s 18th Asian Games from August 18 to September 2, 2018.
It will be the first time for Jakarta to host Asia’s biggest sports event since the fourth edition in 1962 – and Mr Al Musallam highlighted the legacy during the 7th OCA Coordination Committee meeting on Friday.
"In 1962 you had the Asian Games – and the old airport that served those Games is now the site of the new Athletes’ Village for next year’s Asian Games. This is a really good thing," he said.
"Furthermore, the President of Indonesia in 1962 was Soekarno – and the new airport serving Jakarta and next year’s Asian Games is named after him. This is another good legacy and continues the story of the Asian Games."
The meeting took place between the OCA Coordination Committee, led by the Chairman, Mr Tsunekazu Takeda, and the 18th Asian Games organising committee INASGOC, led by the Chairman, Mr Erick Thohir.
The agenda included the sports programme, venue construction, test events, anti-doping procedures, marketing, promotions and broadcasting.
Mr Al Musallam said the legacy of next year’s Asian Games could already be felt with a new airport terminal and highway, plus the expansion of the Jakarta Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) and the Jakarta Light Rail Transit (LRT).
"The legacy of the Asian Games will not only leave sports facilities for the people and for international events but also an improved transportation system, and this is very positive for the city," he added.
Mr Al Musallam told a media conference following the meeting that all contracts had been signed with IT, the scoring system and host broadcaster and stressed that all the details must now be implemented with one year to go. He also said venue construction must be completed by April 2018, giving the organisers a full three months for fine-tuning.
Chairman Takeda said it had been a very good meeting. "We are very satisfied that the government and organising committee are working very hard for the success of the Asian Games," he said.
The meeting heard that the recruitment of 13,000 volunteers – 11,000 for Jakarta and 2,000 for Palembang – would begin next month.
There will also be a series of test events in 10 sports next February.
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