Jakarta - Sports

Sports

Jakarta was host to the Asian Games in 1962, host of the Asian Cup 2007 beside Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam, and has hosted the regional-scale Southeast Asian Games in 1979, 1987 and 1997. In 2011, Jakarta together with Palembang, again host the Southeast Asian Games.

Jakarta's most popular home football club is Persija, which plays its matches in their home stadium at Bung Karno Stadium. The home match of Persija often draws its large fan – cladded with Persija's typical orange kit – to watch the match in the main stadium. The large spectators flocking to the main stadium usually worsen the traffic congestion in Jakarta. Another premiere division team is Persitara which plays its matches in the Kamal Muara Stadium in Kamal area.

The biggest stadium in Jakarta is the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium with a capacity of 88,083 seats. The Senayan sports complex has several sport venues, including the Bung Karno soccer stadium, Madya Stadium, Istora Senayan, aquatic arena, baseball field, basketball court, badminton court, a shooting range, several indoor and outdoor tennis court and a golf driving range. The Senayan complex was built in 1959 to accommodate the Asian Games in 1962. For basketball, the Kelapa Gading Sport Mall in Kelapa Gading, North Jakarta, with a capacity of 7,000 seats, is the home arena of the Indonesian national basketball team.

The Jakarta Car-Free Days are held weekly on Sunday on the main avenues of the city, Jalan Sudirman and Jalan Thamrin, from 6 am to 11 am. The briefer Car-Free Day which lasts from only 6 am to 9 am is held on every other Sunday. The event invites local pedestrians to do sports and exercise and have their activities on the streets that are normally full of cars and traffic. Along the road from the Senayan traffic circle on Jalan Sudirman, South Jakarta, to the "Selamat Datang" Monument at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Jalan Thamrin, all the way north to the National Monument in Central Jakarta, cars are cleared out for pedestrians. Morning gymnastics, calisthenics and aerobic exercises, futsal games, jogging, bicycling, skateboarding, badminton, karate, and on-street library and musical performances take over the roads and the main parks in Jakarta.