Indonesia top candidate to host 2019 Asiad
Surabaya is the top candidate for hosting the 2019 Asian Games after the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) hinted that the Indonesian city is capable of taking over from Vietnam, which withdrew last week due to financial concerns. OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah, in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, said Surabaya is one of the two final bidding nations for the 18th Asiad along with Hanoi, Vietnam. The capital of East Java lost to Hanoi during the OCA General Assembly in 2012. “Indonesia [Surabaya] does have a certain advantage. But at this moment, there isn’t a specified candidate for hosting the 2019 Games,” said Al-Sabah, who added that the new host city will be known during OCA’s general assembly in September in Incheon in South Korea. Surabaya is one of the satellite hosts of the 2011 Indonesia Southeast Asian Games with Palembang as the main hub. Chinese Taipei’s Kaoshiung City, in a separate report in the ...