Curtains come down on Games with a bang
PTI
GUANGZHOU, NOV 27
The skies lit up with dazzling fireworks as an emotional China brought the curtains down on the biggest Asian Games in a riot of colour, foot-tapping music and a cultural extravaganza at the Haixinsha Island on the Pearl River here on Saturday.
If the opening ceremony held at the same riverside venue on November 12th was high on technical wizardry, the closing was a heart-touching display of warmth by the people of this South China city whose infrastructure has improved tremendously as a result of hosting the Games which saw India record their best-ever medal haul till date.
India finished sixth on the medal rostrum with a record 14 gold, 17 silver and 33 bronze for an overall tally of 64, eclipsing their earlier record of 57 medals in the 1982 Asian Games in Delhi.
The closing ceremony was also used by the Games hosts to present cultural segments representing the different regions of the continent, including South Asia in which Indian singers Ravi Tripathi and Tanya Gupta enthralled the capacity crowd.
Hosts China were unstoppable in their relentless march to titles and at the end of the Games had an incredible harvest of 199 gold in an overall haul of over 400 medals, proving once again that they are in the top-most echelons of world sports.
Korea finished way behind in second place while Japan were third.
The prelude to the official part of the ceremony was punctuated by dance of Qiling (a legendary animal symbolising good luck) to celebrate the success of the Games that was followed by an exhibition of acrobatics and dance.
