President of the Indonesian Olympic Committee delivers a welcome speech

Mr. Erick Thohir gave a speech welcoming athletes and officials to Indonesia. This official is a famous figure in Indonesian sports. Thohir made a splash when he bought Inter Milan in 2013.

Olympic Council of Asia President Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah spoke after the host official. Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah thanked host Indonesia and spoke about the significance of the Asian Games beyond just a sporting competition.

Flag-raising ceremony of host country Indonesia

The entire stadium stood up for the flag raising ceremony of the host country, Indonesia. The Indonesian national anthem was performed by singer Tulus. The Indonesian flag will fly for two weeks during the tournament, before being lowered.

The official song of Asiad 2018 is performed

Singer Via Vallen appeared on stage and performed the song Meraih Bintang, the official song of the 2018 Asian Games.

Below the stage, thousands of athletes marched and danced to the music. The song ended with a burst of fireworks outside the stadium.

Vietnam sports delegation parade

The Vietnamese sports delegation marched in alphabetical order, second to last. At the head of the group was fencer Vu Thanh An, holding the flag. The male members wore red vests and the female members wore traditional ao dai.

Last to march in alphabetical order was Yemen. However, it was the host nation, Indonesia, who were the last to take the stage. Indonesia had the largest contingent of 951 athletes at the tournament this year.

South Korean and North Korean sports delegations march together

The two teams entered the stage holding hands under a white flag with a blue map of the two unified countries printed on it. This was a gesture of solidarity between the two regions as the Korean peninsula has recently experienced a period of warmth.

The moment of marching under the same flag of South Korea and North Korea.

The Chinese delegation marched in large numbers.

China is considered the number one candidate for the overall title. Their sports delegation has the largest number of athletes, excluding host Indonesia. At the 2014 Asian Games, China won 151 gold medals, nearly double the number of second place team, host Korea (79).

Athletes march across the stage

Afghanistan, Bahrain, Bangladesh and Bhutan were the first to march onto the stage. The organizers decided to move the parade segment up earlier than usual. This was a reasonable decision because some athletes could leave early to save energy for the upcoming days of competition.

A mass performance continued as the sports teams entered the stage. The performers performed traditional dances in white and navy blue costumes.

Massive stage performance. Photo:AFP.

The opening ceremony begins

The stage was brightly lit to reveal a cast of thousands of female performers, dressed in traditional Indonesian costumes and performing wave-like dances, characteristic of the archipelago nation.

The performance ended with fireworks outside the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. The grand start promised even more exciting performances during the opening ceremony.

Fireworks light up the Bung Karno Stadium. Photo:AFP.

Indonesian President appears in action movie style

An action movie featuring a character wearing a full-face helmet and riding a motorbike on the streets of Jakarta was shown on a big screen. When the motorbike entered the stadium, the character took off his helmet and it was Mr. Joko Widodo. The Indonesian President then entered the VIP area to prepare for the opening ceremony.

Image of President Widodo driving into the yard. Photo:Twitter.

President Widodo surprised the stadium with his appearance. Photo:AFP.

Opening ceremony with bold traditional features of the archipelago

According to the disclosure of the 18th Asiad Organizing Committee, Gelora Bung Karno Stadium will be transformed into the main stage with a length of 120m, a width of 30m and a height of 26m with a high mountain and a waterfall symbolizing the islands of Indonesia. In addition, the stage is also decorated with many unique and elegant flowers, imbued with the traditional culture of the archipelago country.

Inside view of the yard

The opening ceremony is expected to last three hours, with the participation of about 4,000 dancers and hundreds of Indonesian singers and musicians at the 80,000-seat Bung Karno Stadium.

Gelora Bung Karno Stadium is ready

The brilliant scene outside the stadium before the opening ceremony

Indonesia mobilizes huge security force for Asiad

Organizers said 100,000 police and military personnel were deployed to ensure security for the tournament this year, while another 100,000 reserve members were on standby.

Fencing player Vu Thanh An holds the flag for the Vietnamese team.

"Southeast Asia's sword king" Vu Thanh An had the honor of holding the flag for the Vietnamese delegation at the opening ceremony. The athlete who won three SEA Games gold medals and participated in the 2016 Olympics is one of the hopes of Vietnamese sports at the 2018 Asian Games.

History of Asiad

Interesting things about Asiad 2018

- The number of athletes participating in this year's tournament is about 11,500 people, about 1,000 more than the Summer Olympics.

- The 18th Asian Games in history had 45 sports delegations from 45 countries and territories in Asia, competing in 462 events in 40 sports.

- The 2018 Asian Games witnessed the participation of electronic sports (E-Sport) for the first time. The six competition events are currently popular games: 3 games running on PC/Console platforms including League of Legends, Pro Evolution Soccer, StarCraft II, Hearthstone, Clash Royale and Arena of Valor.

- China has the largest delegation with 845 athletes, but most of them are young. Only 214 of them have participated in the Asian Games or Olympics before. They also only have 19 athletes who have won Olympic gold medals, including famous swimmer Sun Yang.

- Singapore is the smallest country participating in the 2018 Asian Games but has one of the most famous athletes, Joseph Schooling.

The Vietnamese delegation attending this year's Asiad has 523 people, including 352 athletes competing in 32 events with the goal of winning 3 gold medals.