2018 Asian Games: triumph or tragedy?

This year, two cities had the honor of holding one of the biggest, if not the biggest, events in Asia. Jakarta and Palembang, major cities in Indonesia, co-hosted the Asian Games, a professional sporting event that occurs every 4 years. The opening ceremony was a remarkable beginning for the games, as well as a great morale booster for the athletes. The closing ceremony was even better, with the main highlight being electrifying performances by South Korean boy bands Super Junior and iKon in front of the 60,000 attendees in the stadium, excluding those that watched in awe in the comfort of their homes.

The quality of the sports venues were of comparably higher standards to previous editions. “I think that the pitch [quality] was fine, and it did not harm the players’ ability to go out there and perform,” said Andrew Lee(12A). In some cases, this year’s Asian Games was more entertaining than an international world sports tournament. Sungho Lee (12B) said, “Compared to this year’s World Cup…we were actually able to enjoy the [soccer] game.”

However, the sports matches themselves garnered the opposite reaction. Though some were entertaining, the overall quality of the games disappointed both the players and the spectators. Speculations over the standards of technology constantly surfaced throughout the event. During one of the award ceremonies, Chinese swimmer Sun Yang was celebrating his gold medal when it was abruptly interrupted by the collapsing flags. Sun Yang demanded that the flags be raised again, but the incident could not be resolved instantly. Many technical issues occurred during the matches as well. Daniel Chen (9B) commented on the problem saying, “The referee made a mistake because they didn’t have the right technology… I was very disappointed.” Furthermore, not only were there technical problems, there was also a major environmental issue. “The race was so difficult — the hot weather, humidity, and not just the humidity but the pollution,” said Hendro Yap, a native race-walker. He was one of the 5 racers who were able to finish the race for the 50 kilometer-event.

This year’s Asian Games at Indonesia had its ups and downs, but altogether, it was still an event that everyone could watch and enjoy together.

Featured image- Chinese and Japanese flags falling during medal ceremony Courtesy of newstalk990.com