A woman poses for a photograph on Sept. 22, 2023, with the 2022 Asian Games mascots (from left to right) Chenchen, Congcong and Lianlian along the promenade of Qiantang river in Hangzhou in China’s eastern Zhejiang province. (AFP/Manan Vatsyayana)
Indonesia will compete in the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games in China with the goal of finishing among the top 10.
“Don’t aim for the top 12, I ask you to be in the top 10,” President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo told the athletes during a ceremonial send-off at the Merdeka Palace on Tuesday.
Indonesia previously hosted the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta and Palembang, ranking fourth in the largest sporting tournament in Asia.
The 19th Asian Games were postponed for a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and are therefore keeping their 2022 title.
The Youth and Sports Ministry previously targeted a rank within the top 12, but the President hopes for more.
“I know that being the host [country] makes a difference. But again, my target is to get in the top 10. Usually, my calculations are not wrong,” Jokowi added.
In 2018, Indonesia had its best result ever in the Asian Games, winning 31 gold medals, 24 silver medals and 43 bronze medals. Fourteen of those gold medals came from pencak silat, a local martial art that Indonesia introduced for the first time to the tournament.
