GUANGZHOU, China, (Reuters) – China’s biggest sporting spectacle since the 2008 Olympics came to a close yesterday with fireworks and a flotilla of light-encrusted boats giving thousands of Asian Games athletes a memorable send-off.
Following the Olympics and the Shanghai Expo, the Games will almost certainly be hailed as another symbol of China’s growing global clout and their athletes feted for topping the medal charts by a mile with a record haul of 199 golds.
The booming southern Chinese city of Guangzhou pumped billions into hosting the multi-sport event and while less welcomed by residents than the Beijing Games, a massive security operation ensured the 16th Asiad passed trouble-free.
“Without a doubt, this has been one of the most outstanding (Asian Games),” said Olympic Council of Asia president Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al-Sabah during a lavish closing ceremony that capped the tightly controlled and largely hitch-free Games.
Athletes gathered beneath a towering cauldron and swayed to leather-clad Korean pop sensation Rain when he took to the stage with a rendition of “Bad Boy” as part of the handover to the next host city, South Korea’s Incheon, in 2014.
