# Istora Gelora Bung Karno

Gelora Bung Karno Sports Palace (Indonesian: Istana Olahraga Gelora Bung Karno, abbreviated as Istora), (formerly named Istora Senayan between 1969 and 2001) is an indoor arena located in Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, Jakarta, Indonesia. The capacity of the arena after 2018 reopening is 7,166. This arena is usually used for badminton tournaments, especially the BWF tournaments Indonesia Open (1982 - 2024) and Indonesia Masters (since 2018), as well as the Indonesia men's national basketball team. The first event that held in this arena was the 1961 Thomas Cup.
It was also used during the 1962 Asian Games and was renovated to host the 2018 edition. Its first post-renovation event was the 2018 Indonesia Masters. During the latter Games, it hosted the badminton and later stages of basketball events.
The arena originally was planned to stage the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup and becoming the only Indonesian venue in the three-country joint bid but was moved to a newly-built arena inside the complex. It hosted the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup instead.

## History

As an architect and civil engineering graduate, Sukarno proposed a sports center location near M. H. Thamrin Boulevard and Menteng (Karet, Pejompongan, or Dukuh Atas) for the 1962 Asian Games. Then he was accompanied by Friedrich Silaban to review the location of the proposed sports complex by helicopter. Silaban disagreed with the selection of Dukuh Atas because he argued the construction of a sports complex in the center the future downtown area will potentially create a massive traffic congestion. Sukarno agreed Silaban recommendation and instead assigned the project to the Senayan area with an area of approximately 300 hectares.
The sports complex construction began on 8 February 1960, Istora construction finished on 21 May 1961, in time to host the 1961 Thomas Cup that held in June of that year.
During the New Order era, due to the de-Sukarnoization policy by military junta government under Suharto, the complex was renamed to Gelora Senayan Sports Complex and the Istora was also renamed to Istora Senayan in 1969. However, the name of the sports complex (and the Istora) was reverted by Indonesian president at the time Abdurrahman Wahid since 17 January 2001. although the Istora Senayan name is still used informally.
Istora had a U-shaped indoor lobby attached on its front since some time after the 1960s to 2016. The court and tribune were surrounded by multi-functional rooms. Those were demolished during the subsequent renovation. The rooms are incorporated underneath the tribune, leaving no other buildings attached to it.
The 2016 - 18 renovation of Istora for the 2018 Asian Games cost Rp132 billion (around US$10 million with the exchange rate at the time), reducing the capacity from 9,500 to around 7,000 spectators. During the latest renovation, there were already some delft blue single seats installed on the mid-section of west and east tribune along with yellow (4 corners) and green (mid-section of north and south tribune) wooden bleachers. Those were scrapped and replaced by single seats, consist of 3 shades of grey. However, to preserve the memory of the old Istora, there are five rows of seat using new all-brown wooden bleachers, placed near Gate 1.

## Entertainment events
### 1961–1999

| Date | Artist(s) | Tour |
| 16–18 February 1988 | Tina Turner | Break Every Rule World Tour |
| 11–13 February 1992 | New Kids on the Block | The Magic Summer Tour |
| 17 October 1995 | Take That | Nobody Else Tour |

### 2000–2009

| Date | Artist(s) | Tour |
| 4 April 2005 | Avril Lavigne | Bonez Tour |
| 23 February 2007 | Muse | Black Holes and Revelations Tour |
| 20 October 2007 | Black Eyed Peas | Black Blue & You Tour |
| 2 June 2009 | The Pussycat Dolls | Doll Domination Tour |
| 17 August 2009 | The All-American Rejects | I Wanna Rock Tour |

### 2010–2019

| Date | Artist(s) | Tour |
| 3 August 2010 | Slash | 2010 World Tour |
| 29 October 2010 | Simply Red | — |
| 10 January 2011 | N.E.R.D | — |
| 22 January 2011 | Ne-Yo | Libra Scale Tour |
| 5 April 2011 | Bruno Mars | The Doo-Wops & Hooligans Tour |
| 27 April 2011 | Maroon 5 | Hands All Over Tour |
| 17 January 2012 | Simple Plan | Get Your Heart On! Tour |
| 20 September 2012 | The Wanted | Live in Jakarta |
| 4 & 5 October 2022 | Maroon 5 | Overexposed Tour |
| 24 March 2013 | Demi Lovato | A Special Night with Demi Lovato |
| 10 May 2013 | Sigur Rós | World Tour 2013 |
| 12 March 2014 | Avril Lavigne | The Avril Lavigne Tour |
| 7 December 2014 | JKT48 | Papan Penanda Isi Hati – Message on a Placard Handshake Festival |
| 28 March 2015 | 2PM | Go Crazy World Tour |
| 22 May 2015 | Boyzone | BZ20 Tour |
| 19 March 2016 | JKT48 | Beginner Handshake Festival |
| 1 March 2019 | Kodaline | Politics of Living Tour |
| 16 November 2019 | Seventeen | Ode to You World Tour |

### 2020–present

| Date | Artist(s) | Tour |
| 1 March 2020 | NCT Dream | The Dream Show |
| 6 August 2022 | JKT48 | Heaven: 10th Anniversary Concert |
| 30 September & 1 October 2022 | The Script | Greatest Hits Tour 2022 |
| 10 December 2022 | Treasure, Jun. K, Young Tak, Zion.T | Saranghaeyo Indonesia 2022 |
| 16 January 2024 | Yoasobi | Yoasobi Asia Tour 2023–2024 |
| 5 October 2024 | WayV | 2024 Wayv Concert |
| 14–15 December 2024 | Several artists | Trans Media 23rd Anniversary: Semangat Baru |
| 2 February 2025 | Yura Yunita | Konser Bingah |
| 13 February 2025 | Wave to Earth | 0.03 World Tour |
| 26–27 February 2025 | Yoasobi | Chō-genjitsu Asia Tour |
| 12 April 2025 | BoyNextDoor | Knock On Vol.1 Tour |

### Cancelled entertainment events

| Date | Artist(s) | Tour | Reason |
| 14 November 2008 | Rihanna | Good Girl Gone Bad Tour | Enforcement of travel warning to Indonesia due to execution of 2002 Bali bombings convict |
| 12 February 2009 | Rihanna | Good Girl Gone Bad Tour | Chris Brown's assault on Rihanna |
| 28 March 2020 | Khalid | Free Spirit World Tour | COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia |
| 9 May 2020 | Rex Orange County | The Pony Tour | COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia |
| 30 May 2020 | One Ok Rock | Eye of The Storm Tour | COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia |
| 31 May 2020 | One Ok Rock | Eye of The Storm Tour | COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia |
| 27 June 2020 | Lauv | How I'm Feeling Tour | COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia |
| 14 September 2021 | Lauv | How I'm Feeling Tour | COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia |
| 15 August 2020 | Stray Kids | District 9: Unlock World Tour | COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia |
| 15 January 2023 | Nightwish | Human. :II: Nature. World Tour | Floor Jansen's radiation therapy following breast cancer surgery in October 2022 |
| 22 November 2023 | Morrissey | 40 Years of Morrissey | Technical issues |
| 23 February 2025 | Keshi | Requiem World Tour | Technical issues |

## Notable international sporting events

* Indonesia Open (1982 - 2024)
* Indonesia Masters (Since 2018)
* 1961, 1967, 1973, and 1979 Thomas Cups
* 1962 and 2018 Asian Games
* 1975 Uber Cup
* 1980 and 1989 IBF World Championships
* 1986, 1994, 2004, and 2008 Thomas & Uber Cups
* 1989 Sudirman Cup
* 1992 IBF World Junior Championships
* 2015 BWF World Championships
* 2015 World Wushu Championships
* 2018 Asian Para Games
* 2022 FIBA Asia Cup

## Gallery

* Friedrich Silaban, architect of the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex including the Istora.
* General Nasution, chair of the Provisional People's Consultative Assembly (MPRS) congratulating General Suharto on his inauguration as Acting President on 12 March 1967 at the Istora.
* Istora in January 2008
* The front lobby of Istora; it was demolished during 2016–18 renovation
* Istora in March 2016
* Interior of Istora during the 2018 Indonesia Masters
* Istora's new wooden bleachers