Indonesia’s favorite bridge team sees five gold medals as a realistic target for the 2018 Asian Games, where the host nation is set to feature a total of 40 sports in the quadrennial event.

“We’re upbeat about reaching five gold medals and two silvers in the upcoming Asian Games because the Indonesian bridge team has been quite competitive in a series of previous international events,” Ekawahyu Kasih, chief of the Indonesian Bridge Association (Gabsi), said on Monday as quoted by kompas.com.

“The team has also been preparing [for the Games] over the past two years. We’re optimistic,” added Ekawahyu after receiving the official news that bridge will be played for the first time in the most prestigious summer multi-sport event in Asia, which is also known as the Asiad.

Pencak silat will also be presented for the first time in the Asiad.

Ekawahyu’s optimism is based on 2014’s world-champion pair Henky Lasut and Eddy Manoppo in senior doubles. In 2016, the national team also won a gold medal in the CCBA Open Team championship in China in April, overpowering 111 other participants. Meanwhile, Indonesia’s under-26 girl’s team ranked fourth in the Junior World Champion in Italy in August.

In the 18th edition of Asiad, bridge is likely to feature 11 events, including men’s team, women’s team, mixed, men’s doubles, women’s doubles, mixed doubles, men’s butler, women’s butler, mixed butler, men’s singles and women’s singles.

Ekawahyu said that the association would hire a world-class coach to train his athletes in the national team.

“We’ve pocketed a name, and this person is available for the job. We hope this person will boost our team’s performance,” he said, refusing to reveal the future coach’s name.

The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) has approved 32 Olympic sports and eight non-Olympic sports to be played in the 2018 event, which is set to run from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2 in co-host cities Jakarta and Palembang, as well as supporting West Java and Banten.

The approval was made on
Sunday during the OCA’s General Assembly meeting in Da Nang, Vietnam.

International Olympic Council (IOC) president Thomas Bach said he was convinced Indonesia would be a laudable host in running the Asiad, which would display the country’s cultural richness.

Bach said he would love to be invited to Indonesia to watch the Games.

Erick Thohir, chief of the Indonesian Asian Games Organizing Committee (Inasgoc), made a successful presentation before 250 representatives of the Asian countries at the assembly on the upcoming Asiad – the second organization for host Indonesia. The country hosted the Asiad for the first time in 1962.

“We’re indeed coming to the General Assembly to convince its members that we’ve conducted serious preparations for the Games,” said Erick.

“Co-hosts Jakarta and Palembang have shown their strong efforts in fast forwarding the preparations — in venues and supporting infrastructure — in order to get them ready by 2017,” he added.

Erick dismissed concerns that the dual host-city arrangement had the potential to cause troubles in managing and running the Games, saying that Indonesia has the ability to execute a well-run Asiad.

“We will also learn from Kazakhstan, which successfully ran the 2011 Asian Winter Games in Astana and Almaty,” he added.

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2018 Asian Games

Olympic sports:

Aquatics, track and field, fencing, weightlifting, basketball, handball, badminton, baseball/softball, cycling, equestrian, golf, wrestling, field hockey, judo, karate, canoeing/kayaking, sailing, shooting, modern pentathlon, archery, sport climbing, rowing, rugby, gymnastics, skateboarding, soccer, table tennis, tae kwon do, tennis, boxing, triathlon and volleyball.

Non-Olympic sports:

Bowling; bridge; cricket; kabaddi; martial arts (jujitsu, kurash, pencak silat, sambo, dan wushu); mechanical sports (paragliding and jetski); squash and sepak takraw.

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