The Asian Games matter because they tell the world about uniquely Asian stories of triumph and loss

The sound of adoration can be a profound one. At the Istora stadium in the Indonesian capital Jakarta, as the crowd hollered and hooted, it was the sort of familiar frenzy you find in sport, and yet its subtext was beautiful. In a nation with the world’s largest Muslim population, they were cheering a man making the sign of the cross. Jonatan Christie had won the badminton singles gold for Indonesia at the Asian Games and they were telling him he was theirs.

Two journalists from India told me this story the next day and they recounted it with a smile. The word was spreading. The symbolism had not gone unnoticed. In this briefly united Asia, in shorts and skirts, we sometimes find the better parts of ourselves.