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ASIAN GAMES | Page 2 FOOTBALL | Page 7 Tosin carries Sarri eyes hopes in Chelsea boost, brother Femi’s Emery seeks absence Arsenal win Saturday, August 18, 2018 CRICKET Dhul-Hijja 7, 1439 AH England recall GULF TIMES Stokes as they seek India series win SPORT Page 6 HANDBALL / ASIAN GAMES Qatar top group with win over Iran By Our Correspondent of Incheon in 2014. Qatar had beat for the tournament, will be repre- Jakarta Korea 24-21 in the fi nal then. sented by eight swimmers: Noah Thirteen teams are taking part Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi , Yaqoub in handball competitions of the Abdulaziz al-Khulaifi , Abdulaziz efending champion and Asian Games. They were divided Hasan al-Obaidli, Musallam Ab- 2015 world silver medal- into four groups. Group A com- dullah al-Nabit, Hasan Abdul- list Qatar defeated Iran prises Qatar, Iran and Malaysia. rahman al-Obaidan, Abdulrah- 35-20 to cement its po- Group B has South Korea, Japan man Hisham Mohamed, Yousef Dsition at the top of the Group A at and Pakistan. Group C includes Hisham Mohamed and Firas Mu- the 18th Asian Games yesterday. Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Hong rad al-Saidi. Both the teams had already Kong, while Group D consists of The swimming event will be reached the second round after Bahrain, Chinese Taipei, India held from August 19 to 24. the Iranian team defeated Malay- and Iraq. sia 55-11 on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Qatar swim- Qatar’s Moustafa Heiba (centre) Qatar, who defeated Malaysia ming team arrived in Jakarta on in action during the men’s Group 64-11 in the opening game, are Thursday to participate in Games. A preliminary handball match eyeing to retain the gold medal The Qatar team, which organ- against Iran yesterday. Heiba they won in the South Korean city ised a camp in Slovakia to prepare scored six goals. FOCUS Much at stake as 18th Asian Games begin today As many as 11,000 athletes from 45 countries will vie for glory at the second biggest multi-sport event in the world By Anil John “In those two events, Indo- Jakarta nesia’s sons and daughters will fi ght to fl y the red-and-white fl ag, compete to sing ‘Indonesia he hopes and aspirations Raya’, and contend to make Indo- of more than 11,000 ath- nesia proud. I ask all Indonesians letes from 45 countries to work together to ensure the will be at stake when the success of the Asian Games and Tcurtain rises on the 18th Asian Asian Para Games so that we can Games in this sprawling me- succeed as host and succeed in tropolis of more than 10 million (our athletic) performance.” people. The People’s Consultative As- The latest edition of Asia’s sembly Speaker Zulkifl i Hasan sporting tour de force comes 67 and House Speaker Bambang years after the inaugural event in Soesatyo also spoke of the event 1951 in New Delhi, where a group in their speeches and the Gita of newly-independent nations Bahana Nusantara orchestra even decided to get together – in a performed the 2018 Asian Games sporting way, of course – to take theme song, “Meraih Bintang” charge of their own destinies af- (Reach the Stars), in the plenary ter hundreds of years of exploita- hall during a break in proceed- tive colonialism. ings. “Let us prove that Indonesia is ready to lift Asia’s position in the world,” President Widodo said in his closing remarks. Meanwhile, the opening cer- emony at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium is expected to be wit- nessed by hundreds of millions of spectators around the world. International renowned Indo- nesian musicians like Anggun, Raisa, Tulus, Edo Kondologit, Putri Ayu, Fatin, Kamasean and Via Vallen will perform on a spectacular stage, thought to be one of the largest of its kind. The ceremony stage is 120 me- tres long and 30 metres wide and will be used by more than 4,000 It was a small beginning which dancers who will showcase the saw only 11 countries and 491 rich cultural and ethnic diver- athletes take part, but it nev- sity of a country of about 18,500 ertheless laid the foundations islands of which less than 1,000 of an energetic movement that Indonesian President Joko Widodo carries the torch during the relay ahead of the 18th Asian Games at the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, yesterday. (Reuters) are inhabited. gave rise to the global sporting Top choreographers Denny colossuses that China, Japan and is little doubt that China will hosts. This is the fi rst time the success despite its status as the hosts Malaysia, Thailand, Vi- for the event, it’s also something Malik and Eko Supriyanto are in South Korea have now become. top the medals chart with South Games are being held in two cit- world’s third-largest democ- etnam and Singapore which are of a prestige issue for the govern- charge of the show. The dancers China, once derided as the Korea fi nishing second and Ja- ies – Palembang being the other racy after India and the US with a signifi cantly smaller in both size ment which is sparing no eff ort to have been training for months “sick man of Asia”, Japan, a pan holding on to third. A host – but there is little evidence to population of about 260 million. and population. win over critics. and are expected to put on an former imperial power and South of other nations – notably India, suggest that the hosts will be a A lack of sporting culture and This time though, the hosts On Thursday, President Joko energetic display alongside an Korea, which struggled through Iran, Kazakhstan, North Korea massive benefi ciary of that won- a severe dearth of government- have thrown more than 900 ath- Widodo asked Indonesia to orchestra involving about a hun- its initial years because of war and Thailand – would attempt derful thing called home advan- aided development programmes letes into the Games cauldron “amaze the world” in his state- dred musicians. and military rule, went on to es- to grab whatever comes their way tage. for its young population are the hoping to make the most out of-the-nation speech before the An evening of song, dance and tablish themselves on the global as they try to cope with the “Big They had put on a grand show key factors in Indonesia failing of the situation. It’s the largest House of Representatives. camaraderie is a good way to start stage as giants not just in sport Three” and aim to fi nish as the when they fi rst hosted the event to keep up with its much smaller number ever from a single coun- “After a 56-year wait, this is an event, but for many athletes but in virtually every aspect of “best of the rest”. in 1962, fi nishing second to Ja- neighbours. This was amply in try, but although it’s designed to the second time Indonesia will who have entered the fi eld with human endeavour. Sadly, though, Indonesia are pan with 21 gold medal medals, evidence last year when they fi n- signal intent, it can be also seen host the Asian Games, followed no hope of winning a medal, the And as yet another edition of unlikely to make a strong case but for a variety of reasons since ished fi fth in the Southeast Asian as an act of desperation. by the Asian Para Games,” he said opening ceremony may be the the Asian Games kicks off , there for this honour, despite being the then have failed to build on that Games in Kuala Lumpur behind With almost $3.5bn budgeted according to the local press. only moment worth cherishing. Gulf Times 2 Saturday, August 18, 2018 ASIAN GAMES ATHLETICS FOCUS OCA welcomes Kuwait to Asiad Tosin carries medal executive board, which allows DPA Berlin Kuwaiti athletes to take part in the 18th Asian Games under the fl ag and anthem of Kuwait.” he Olympic Council of Kuwait was suspended by the Asia (OCA) has wel- IOC in 2015 due to government comed a decision by the interference and confl icts in the International Olympic sports law. hopes in brother TCommittee (IOC) to provision- The IOC said Thursday that ally lift the suspension of Kuwait reasons for the suspension re- which allows the nation to com- main valid, but that at the same Qatar sprinter will pete at the Asian Games in Indo- time it “acknowledged the nesia today onwards. progress accomplished to date run 100m and The OCA said its executive and the positive discussions with board was “delighted” and “fully the Government of Kuwait in or- Femi’s absence 200m at Asiad supports the decision of the IOC der to resolve the situation”. By Anil John both the 100m and 200m, how- SPOTLIGHT Jakarta ever, knows that he has a moun- tain to climb. For starters, this will be his osin Ogunode is hop- fi rst competition in more than a Balandin can fi nd ing to break out of his year – in fact, he himself strug- brother Femi’s shadow gled to name the last event he and carve out his own took part in. mojo in Jakarta, say Tidentity at the Asian Games Also, a couple of Chinese and when the athletics programme Japanese runners have gone un- begins on August 25. der 10 seconds in recent meets. Japan swimmers The 24-year-old sprinter is “I had some injury problems part of the Qatari squad which after my last meet which meant boasts stars like 400m fl at ace that I couldn’t take part in any Abdalelah Haroun and 400m competition.