The Asian Games torch began its journey on a relay course across Indonesia after a flame received from India a day earlier was merged with the sacred Javanese Mrapen eternal flame on Wednesday evening in Central Java.

In a ceremony at Prambanan, a ninth century Hindu temple complex, the flames were brought together by Indonesian badminton legend Susy Susanti, the designated torch relay ambassador.

Indonesian former tennis player and Asian Games gold medalist Yustedjo Tarik then handed the torch to the country's Vice President Muhammad Jusuf Kalla, who declared the official start of the relay.

The first leg of the relay will be from Yogyakarta to Solo, another major Javanese city. In all, the torch will pass through 53 cities in 18 provinces before ending up in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, on Aug. 15.

(Puan Maharani, Indonesia's coordinating human development and culture minister, 3rd from left, holds the Asian Games torch in Grobogan, Central Java)

Jakarta and Palembang will co-host the Asian Games from Aug. 18 to Sept. 2, with athletes from 45 countries participating.

The last time Indonesia hosted the Asian Games was in 1962.