Number of Football Participants in Asian Games Equal to World Cup

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Asian Games 2018 committee (INASGOC) has received confirmation from the participating countries in the participation of 40 sports for Asian Games. It was out of expectation.

“The number of participants is amazing. The archery competition will be participated by 41 countries that estimated only 28 countries in the beginning,” said the leader of INASGOC Erick Thohir during the meeting with Commission X of House of Representatives in Jakarta on Monday.

INASGOC also received information from football branches that 32 countries will participate in the game which make it become the largest number of entrant throughout the history of the Asian Games.

“The number of football participants is equal to the World Cup. This should be anticipated by the sports committee involved,” Erick said.

Indonesia confirmed the quota for athletes and participants in Asian Games 2018 is still 15,000 entries. It was decided in accordance with the efficiency of budget implementation.

“INASGOC and Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) will communicate [this matter] to the Olympic committees from participants to reduce the number of their athletes by about 30 percent," said Erick.

Erick explained the number of participants is limited due to financial efficiency in order to not up more than Rp4.9 trillion.

In the meeting, Erick mentioned the economic impact, traffic engineering management, torch relay plan, opening and closing ceremony plan, promotion, security, and the financial budget usage in Asian Games 2018.

“Only 81 days left for preparation, if we exclude the holidays, we only have 49 days left. But we have the 50th day as the last day of registrations for the Asian Games,” said Erick.

ANTARA