During the Parade of Nations at the 2018 Asian Games opening ceremony, beginning at 19:00 WIB (UTC+7) on 18 August 2018, athletes bearing the flags of their respective nations led their national delegations as they paraded into the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in the co-host city of Jakarta, Indonesia, preceded by their flag and placard bearer. Each flag bearer had been chosen either by the nation's National Olympic Committee or by the athletes themselves. In keeping with tradition, the host nation, Indonesia entered last. 44 teams marched in (43 nations and the Unified Korea team).
Although the Games were held in Indonesia, English was used to organize the Parade of Nations (as per Olympic Council of Asia protocol determines that this element could be held in French or the International Olympic Committee three-letter codes) instead of Indonesian, the official language of the nation. Had the parade followed the Indonesian script, Afghanistan would have been followed by Saudi Arabia, and Jordan would have been the penultimate country before Indonesia.
Parade order Whilst most countries entered under their short names, a few entered under more formal or alternative names, mostly due to political and naming disputes. The Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan) entered with the compromised name and flag of "Chinese Taipei" under T so that they did not enter together with conflicting China, under C.
List
Below is a list of parading countries and their announced flag bearer, in the same order as the parade. This is sortable by country name, flag bearer's name and flag bearer's sport. Names are given in the form officially designated by the OCA.
OrderNationIndonesian nameFlag bearerSport 1 Afganistan 2 Bahrain Bader Nasser Official 3 BangladeshMabia AkhterWeightlifting 4 Bhutan Karma Karma Archery 5 (Brunei Darussalam) Brunei DarussalamBasma Lachkar Wushu 6 KambojaSorn SeavmeyTaekwondo 7 CinaZhao Shuai Taekwondo 8 (Hong Kong, China) Hong Kong, Tiongkok Vivian Kong Man Wai Fencing 9 IndiaNeeraj Chopra Athletics 10 (IR Iran) Republik Islam IranElaheh Ahmadi Shooting 11 Irak 12 JepangYukiko UenoSoftball 13 YordaniaAhmad Abu-Ghaush Taekwondo 14 Kazakhstan Abilkhan AmankulBoxing 15 KoreaLim Yung-hui Basketball Ju Kyong-chol Football 16 Kuwait Essa Al-Zenkawi Athletics 17 Kirgistan Kanybek Uulu Onolbek Volleyball 18 Laos 19 LibanonGabriella Doueihy Swimming 20 (Macau, China) Makau, Tiongkok Sio Ka Kun Swimming 21 Malaysia Syakilla SalniKarate 22 Maladewa Aishath Sajina Swimming 23 Mongolia Natsagsürengiin ZolbooWrestling 24 MyanmarZaw Lwin TunVolleyball 25 Nepal Kamal Bahadur Adhikari Weightlifting 26 OmanMahmood al Hassani Field hockey 27 PakistanMuhammad Rizwan Sr. Field hockey 28 Palestina Dania Nour Swimming 29 FilipinaJordan ClarksonBasketball 30 QatarAbdulla Al-TamimiSquash 31 Arab Saudi Ali Al-Othman Weightlifting 32 SingapuraHoe Wah ToonGymnastics 33 Sri LankaDinusha GomesWeightlifting 34 SuriahAbdulwahab Al-Hamwi Basketball 35 Tionghoa TaipeiKuo Hsing-chun Weightlifting 36 TajikistanRustam Iskandari Wrestling 37 ThailandPleumjit Thinkaow Volleyball 38 (Timor Leste) Timor-Leste 39 TurkmenistanZiyamuhammet Saparov Wrestling 40 Uni Emirat ArabLatifa Al Hosani Fencing 41 UzbekistanIsroil Madrimov Boxing 42 VietnamVũ Thành An Fencing 43 Yaman 44 IndonesiaI Gede Siman Sudartawa Swimming
Iran and Saudi Arabia paraded as "IR Iran" and "Saudi Arabia" respectively, though the announcer called out the full names "Islamic Republic of Iran" and "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia".
References