JAKARTA, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday was optimistic about the country's chances of meeting its medal target in the Asian Games taking place in the country.
Prsident Widdo asserted that he was confident that Indonesia could take home more than the target of 16 gold medals across several sports, including the country's traditional martial art of pencak silat, badminton, karate, wall climbing jet sky, and canoe, among others.
"I think there are many sports providing opportunities for us to obtain medals," Widodo said.
So far, the Indonesian contingent has secured 14 gold, 12 silver and 28 bronze medals.
"This has been the highest number ever of gold medals secured in the history of Indonesia's participation in the Asian Games," said Widodo.
Indonesia has set a target to rank 18th in the Asian Games medal table.
Host Indonesia has sent around 800 athletes to compete in all sports staged in the Games taking place in its capital of Jakarta, and in Pelembang, the provincial capital of South Sumatra and West Java province. The Games officially kicked off on August 18 and are set to end on September 2.
As many as 11,300 athletes from 45 national and regional Olympic Committees are vying in 465 events across 40 sports and 67 disciplines, according to the latest data from the Olympic Council of Asia.
