The curtains had been introduced down on a memorable Asian Games with the celebration of the athletes’ stupendous feats and China’s cultural heritage at a vibrant and technologically mesmerising closing ceremony on Sunday. A festive environment descended on the 80,000 capability ‘Big Lotus’ Stadium within the 75-minute present of sunshine, sound and laser with the athletes of the 45 taking part nations bidding farewell after greater than two weeks of intense sporting competitors. The closing ceremony was a celebration of sports activities and tradition, and it sought to grasp a harmonic convergence of ‘Culture and Sports’. Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) appearing chief Randhir Singh declared the nineteenth version of the Asian Games closed within the presence of Chinese premier Li Qiang and different dignitaries.

“I declare the 19th Hangzhou Asian Games closed and as per the tradition call upon the youth of Asia to assemble in three years time in Aichi-Nagoya (Japan) to celebrate the 20th Asian Games there in accordance with the ideals of the Olympic Council of Asia.”

“May the youth of Asia ever celebrate the Asian Games in the spirit of brotherhood and for the good of humanity,” Singh mentioned.

“Over the past 16 days, we have shared many unforgettable moments in this magnificent city. And it is time to say ‘Shay Shay, Hangzhou’ for a wonderful and memorable Asian Games,” mentioned the veteran administrator.

“Asia and the world loves Hangzhou! You have been the perfect host – and the OCA will never forget this. I would like to thank the Chinese Government, the Chinese Olympic Committee, the people of Hangzhou and HAGOC for what you have done and ensured that the Hangzhou Asian Games were an unprecedented success.” The largest Asian Games ever was dropped at an finish with China dominating the medals desk as soon as once more, the 201 gold (together with 111 silver and 71 bronze) beating the 199 they collected at 2010 Guangzhou Games.

Japan (52 gold, 67 silver, 69 bronze) and South Korea (42 gold, 59 silver, 89 bronze) had been second and third with India ending at fourth with a report haul of 107 medals (28 gold, 38 silver, 41 bronze).

Thirteen world data, 26 Asian data and 97 Games data had been damaged through the Games, in line with OCA appearing director common Vinod Kumar Tiwari.

The stadium noticed much less attendance than the opening ceremony on September 23 however the crowd joined the athletes and volunteers.

The flag bearers of all of the nations got here out first earlier than the opposite athletes and officers joined. Men’s hockey group goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was the Indian flag bearer.

There had been round 100 Indian athletes and officers within the parade, as lots of them had already left for house after the top of their respective occasions.

The organisers mentioned 12,407 athletes from 45 nations competed in 40 sports activities on the Hangzhou Games, which had been delayed by a 12 months as a result of COVID-19 pandemic.

In a sombre ceremony, the torch and flag of the primary Asian Games in New Delhi in 1951 in addition to the OCA flag was handed to the governor of Japan’s Nagoya-Aichi, the 2026 version host metropolis.

For the cultural programme, the large oval-shaped LED flooring display screen that gave naked-eye 3D visible results through the opening ceremony was not used. Instead, a ‘digital turf’ — mentioned to be the primary of its variety utilized in Asian Games — remodeled the soccer pitch into an evocative backyard with huge reduce outs of separate letters of ‘Asia’ on the facet.

The ‘digital turf’, which is the fusion of expertise and ecology, and the grafting of expertise and artwork, was a big mesh with over 40,000 illuminated spots evenly woven in, lined the soccer subject to show it into an enormous color palette, the place shifting pictures, similar to starry skies, flowers and waves, had been displayed in a glittering means.

A reminiscence river flowed throughout the stage towards the top of the present, reflecting on all of the exhausting work and considerate providers offered by volunteers through the Games, earlier than welcoming them to hitch the athletes within the remaining celebration.

The big digital torchbearer, who lit up the primary Games flame along with Olympic champion — and nineteenth Asian Games gold medallist — swimmer Wang Shun on the opening ceremony, returned to witness the flame being extinguished, along with the volunteers and athletes.

The digital big then bid his personal farewell with an emotional gesture earlier than disappearing from the present.

The principal theme of the ceremony was the ‘Enduring Memories of Hangzhou’ with the carnival conveying the timeless friendship of ‘Flowers for Parting Friends’ and the aspiration of ‘The Lotus and the Osmanthus in Harmony’.

The Lotus and the Osmanthus in Harmony depicted the thousand-year custom between parting mates and tailored this custom within the realm of sports activities and competitors.

Osmanthus is among the most vital flowers in China and town flower of Hangzhou. It is related to the Moon and is alleged to have magical self-healing powers.

The ceremony aimed toward showcasing the thrilling and touching moments of athletes all through the Games, whereas representing hundreds of thousands of volunteers and residents of Hangzhou in addition to each person who made these Games doable.

By specializing in the folks, it sought to focus on the people-to-people interactions and the spirit of Sports Without Borders.