Asian Games Opening Ceremony: Time, Schedule and Where to Watch
Asian Games 2018 opening ceremony timings and where to watch
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The 18th Asian Games being jointly hosted by the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang will kick-off on Saturday, 18 August at the GBK main stadium in Jakarta.
This is the first time that the Games are being jointly hosted by two cities with Jakarta staging both the closing and opening ceremonies.
From 18 August to 2 September, athletes will be seen competing in 40 sports and 67 disciplines consisting of 28 Olympic sports, 4 new Olympic sports, and 8 non-Olympic sports. Another first at these Games, esports will be making their debut, featured as a non-medal category demonstration sport.
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Asian Games 2018 Opening Ceremony
Starting at 5:30pm IST on Saturday, the broadcast of the Opening Ceremony will commence on Sony in India. At 6:15pm IST is when the traditional ‘Parade of Athletes’ will get underway with young javelin-thrower Neeraj Chopra carrying India’s flag and leading the contingent.
Asian Games 2018: Opening Ceremony Performances
The host nation is believed to have dedicated many resources and invested a lot of time and talent in the ceremony, also aimed at being able to portray the country’s capability to host an international event.
Expected to be watched by billions across the world, the ceremony is expected to feature popular Indonesian singers Anggun, Raisa, Tulus, Edo Kondologit, Putri Ayu, Fatin, GAC, Kamasean and Via Vallen.
The ceremony stage, with features of 120-meter length, 30-meter width and 26-meter height, will showcase a towering mountain as its background, accompanied by Indonesian beautiful, unique plants and flowers. This stage, manually made by artists from Bandung and Jakarta, will also become the arena for a total of 4,000 dancers to perform, choreographed by top choreographers Denny Malik and Eko Supriyanto.
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