"You all are the best sons and daughters of this country and you represent 263 million Indonesian population," the president said in his address to the function.
A total of 904 athletes were present to represent the whole Indonesian contingent who will compete in the 18th Asian Games which will take place in Jakarta and Palembang, capital of South Sumatra province, from Aug 18 to Sept 2.
In total, the Indonesia contingent haa 1,388 members comprising 938 athletes, 396 committee officers, and 80 headquarters.
The president believed the Indonesian athletes will take home as many medals as possible thanks to the trainings they have taken part.
"Our target is already clear that we aim to finish in the top 10. We must grab at least 16 gold medals. This means we may grab more gold medals but must not lack even one gold medal," he said.
Jokowi has also several times inspected a number of training grounds for the athletes of pencak silat, jetski, skateboard and rowing.
He asked the athletes to keep the good reputation of the nation and to do fair play during the pan Asian multi sports event.
Reporting by Bayu Prasetyo
Editing by Suharto, Yoseph
Reporter: Antara
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
Copyright © ANTARA 2018
