REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Indonesia should do its best to be among the ten top teams in the Asian Games scheduled in Incheon, South Korea from September 19 to October 4, sports minister, Roy Suryo urged.

"Our target is to be among the top 10. We hope our athletes can realize that. Earlier, we only finished 15th," he said on the sidelines of a meeting to evaluate preparations for the Asian Games here, Tuesday.

The target was realistic despite tighter competition, and Indonesia needed it as capital for the next Asian Games in 2018, which is likely to be staged in the country, the minister said.

Various preliminary steps have already been taken even as an official decision from the Asian Sports Federation is awaited, he said.

"Asian Games 2018 will most likely be held here. If in Incheon we could be among the top ten, then the next target would be getting into the best five," he said.

In the Asian Games this year, 188 male and female athletes from Indonesia plan to take part in 23 sports disciplines including badminton, athletics, boxing and cycling apart from weightlifting, swimming, wrestling, fencing along with judo and football.

Meanwhile, the names of the athletes to be sent to the biggest four-yearly Asian sports event were still being processed before being sent to the committee, the chief of Satlak Prima (implementing task force), Suwarno, said.

"The names of the cyclists have just come in. So, we are still waiting for other names before they are verified," he said.

Training for the athletes who were to participate in the Asian Games had gone off well so far, and was not only carried out at home but also abroad, he said.

Foreign coaches have also trained athletes wishing to excel in their selected disciplines, he said.

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