Istora Gelora Bung Karno

Gelora Bung Karno Sports Palace (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). 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.

Development
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, since January 17, 2001, Indonesian president at the time Abdurrahman Wahid reverted the sports complex name to Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex, including the Istora.

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.

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.

Other

 * Barbadian singer Rihanna planned to held concerts in Istora as part of her Good Girl Gone Bad Tour, but the concert was cancelled twice, first scheduled for November 14, 2008 due to security concerns as Indonesian government issued travel warning, and second scheduled for February 12, 2009 due to Chris Brown's assault on Rihanna.
 * During 2020, Due to the coronavirus pandemic that hit Indonesia, Khalid, Rex Orange County, Lauv and Stray Kids were forced to cancel the concert which was scheduled to be held at Istora on March 28, May 9, June 27 and August 15 respectively. The concert that were cancelled was a part of Free Spirit World Tour (Khalid), The Pony Tour (Rex Orange County), How I'm Feeling Tour (Lauv) and District 9: Unlock World Tour (Stray Kids).
 * Finnish band Nightwish planned to held concert in this arena as part of their Human. :II: Nature. World Tour on January 17, 2023, but then the concert was cancelled. the reason for cancelation was unknown, possibly due to scheduling conflicts with 2023 Indonesia Masters.
 * English singer-songwriter Morrissey had to cancel his 40 Years of Morrissey tour scheduled for November 22, 2023 due to 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