As Asian Games hosts, Indonesia have more at stake than sport

Title worth weight in gold for Spurs’ son

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Aug 14, (Agencies): Indonesia is deploying 100,000 police and soldiers to provide security for the Asian Games, the biggest event ever held in its terror attack prone capital Jakarta, parts of which have been dramatically spruced up as the city readies to welcome tens of thousands of athletes and visitors.

The 18th Asian Games, which run until Sept 2, are being held in Jakarta, Palembang on the island of Sumatra, and in West Java. About 12,000 athwith only beautification work being carried out just days before Saturday’s opening ceremony, said organizing committee member and sports ministry secretary Gatot S. Dewa Broto, who pronounced the facilities “extremely wonderful.” An opening ceremony involving 5,000 performers is planned with a mythological theme, flying people and, indispensably in a country of dozens of active volcanoes, a mountain that erupts, albeit a “very small eruption,” Dewa Broto said.

The official website says the games will be “inaugurated through a colossal ceremony as a way to show the world that Indonesia is a big nation that is capable of hosting an international event.”

The games are being held at what

Qatar’s Khalid Abdi (left) maneuvers past Hong Kong’s Cheng Kam Hing (right) in their men’s basketball preliminary Group C game between Qatar and Hong Kong during the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta on Aug 14. (AFP)

is domestically a trying time for Indonesia. An earthquake on the island of Lombok last week killed more than 430 people and the country is beginning what’s expected to be eight months of presidential election campaigning that trades on religious and ethnic divides. Any significant problems or successes at the Asian Games will reflect on the incumbent President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.

Meanwhile, Son Heung-min has lit up the World Cup and the Premier League but unnervingly it is the Asian Games in Indonesia that could make or break the career of the prolific South Korean forward.

Anything less than gold and Son, 26, faces a compulsory stint of nearly two years’ military service -- a severe blow to the player, his national team and his club, Tottenham Hotspur.

Son bade farewell to his Spurs teammates after Saturday’s season-opening win at Newcastle and flew some 7,000 miles (12,000 km) to Jakarta for Asia’s regional Olympics, under a special deal brokered with the club.

As Asia’s all-time Premier League top-scorer, and a huge celebrity in his home country, he will undoubtedly be the Asian Games football tournament’s biggest star.