Asian Games Ready For Kick-Off

In terms of the number of competing athletes (over 16,000) and nations (45), the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia will be the biggest sports competition of the summer.

The Games begin formally with an Opening Ceremony on Saturday August 18, but competition actually starts Friday August 9 with men’s group stage football at the Patriot Stadium in West Java. Broadcast preparations for covering the kick-off are complete, lines have been tested with Telkom Indonesia, graphics are in place and commentary circuits are live.

The bulk of the Games events, running for a fortnight until September 2, will take place in Jakarta (which hosted the 1962 edition) and Palembang, the first time the multi-sport event will be hosted in two cities.

Television production is being handled by IGBS, a joint venture between Infront subsidiary HBS and IMG Media. The company was formerly Doha Asian Games Broadcast Services, set up in September 2004 with the mission of being the Host Broadcaster of the Asian Games in Doha 2006. Since then it has delivered the SEA Games Singapore 2015, and provided production teams for the Asian Games Guangzhou 2010 and the Asian Games Incheon 2014.

The World Broadcaster Meeting, where IGBS presented final plans, took place in Jakarta on Monday with 14 organisations present.

The brands line-up of the Games will feature a cluttered array of sponsor and partner logos, overwhelmingly from the host nation, including only a few global brands and one Olympic TOP sponsor.

Of the 13 TOP sponsors, five are Asian companies, but South Korea’s Samsung, an Official Sponsor of the Asian Games, will be the only TOP partner taking part.

The Asian Games boast Mastercard as one of the six Official Sponsors. Arch-rival Visa is a TOP sponsor.

There are a dozen Official Prestige Partners (the top tier), with three foreign companies: Qatar airlines, Tissot watches and Chinese sportswear group 361°.

There are four Official Partners, including Japan’s Canon, which will also be a Gold Partner of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

Among the Supporting Sponsors is Japanese tech group NEC, and the 31 Official Licensing partners include American brands KFC and Polo (Ralph Lauren) and Hong Kong-owned international retailer Giordano.

The 40 different sports on display will include esports as a demonstration sport for the first time in a competition sanctioned by National Olympic Committees. Esports will become a medal sport in 2022 at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.