Asian Games closing ceremony: China made a mark, on the medal tally, with robots and AI | Asian-games News

The most poignant moment of an otherwise joyous closing ceremony came when the digital torchbearer reappeared.The giant human avatar made of a million digital flames extinguished the cauldron and headed towards the exit. She took a couple of steps forward, stopped and looked back longingly at the torch. Took a couple of steps forward again, once again looked back and stopped a little longer, waved goode from the roof of the Olympic Stadium before darting off into the night sky.“We did it,” the mesh screen screamed in big, bold words.
Of that, there was never any doubt. China was prepared – over-prepared, actually – for these Games – postponed a year due to the pandemic – that were eight years in the making and the spending estimated at $30 billion, according to the Associated Press.
Images of heart-stopping action from the last fortnight were emblazoned on the big screen. There were portraits, too, of human moments. Of victories and defeats. Of larger-than-life stories and minnows making their mark.

The flame of the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou is about to extinguish. The torchbearer who ignited the flame 16 days ago crossing the Qiantang River and running into the stadium during the opening ceremony is back. He extinguishes the flame, reluctantly leaving the venue and the… pic.twitter.com/NnB5p3XOti
— 19th Asian Games Hangzhou 2022 Official (@19thAGofficial) October 8, 2023
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But it wasn’t only about sport.
Claims were made of a ‘harmonious’ Asia from the host nation that’s enduring rocky relationships with many neighbouring countries. There was an unabashed show of technology. And there was a not-so-subtle underlying message: that China is not in as bad an economic situation as it’s made out to be.
The reality of the situation may be different. Especially after Reuters reported, citing Japanese daily Mainichi, that the mayor of the next host city did not travel to Hangzhou, thus breaking from the tradition. The reason, the report added, was because of the comments he made a decade ago ‘denying that Japan’s army inflicted a wartime massacre on the Chinese city of Nanjing.’
‘Harmonious’ Asia might be a dream too far but on a night that saw another in-your-face display of hi-tech, in an event that had a lot more razzmatazz than the Opening and reached a crescendo that is usually associated with ceremonies like these, China ensured its gains were counted – on and off the field.
The Closing began the same way most sporting events ended: with the March of the Volunteers blaring out and thousands muttering the words. Over the last fortnight, China’s national anthem was played a record 201 times – each time the country’s athletes won a gold medal.
China made the most of the home conditions nearly doubling their medal count from the previous Asiad, with the powerhouse nation coming good in nearly every sport it participated in – China did not compete in only two sports, cricket and kabaddi.
However, the hosts could not better their record overall tally of 416, a feat China achieved when the country last hosted the Asian Games in 2010.
Yet, China was way out of everyone else’s reach. The second and third-placed teams, Japan and South Korea, had fewer total medals combined than China. Their gold medal count, too, was less than half of China’s gold tally.
For India, who were led out hockey goalkeeper PR Sreejesh in the closing ceremony, the Games will go down in hory. For the first time, the country breached the 100-medal mark, finishing with a total of 107 medals including 28 gold.

India’s 🇮🇳 flagbearer at the #ClosingCeremony of #AsianGames leads the Indian contingent into a chant of Sau Paar Ho Gaye!
Follow our blog for #AsianGames2022 Closing Ceremony: https://t.co/RisEOS4nls pic.twitter.com/kCaof7OhU3
— Express Sports (@IExpressSports) October 8, 2023
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If the last fortnight was a test for the Paris Olympics in 10 months, China will continue to push the US for the top-of-the-table battle, Japan will have to outdo itself to build on the Tokyo success. India’s athletes, meanwhile, can ill-afford to read too much into the century haul, given that a bunch of their medals came in non-Olympic events or where the Olympic standard is a lot higher.
The Hangzhou Asiad, though, will be remembered for a lot more than mere sporting achievements.
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Chinese hurdler Lin Yuwei appreciating her Indian counterpart Jyothi Yarraji’s decision to ‘stand for herself’ in a heated 100m hurdles final was one such moment of class. The gesture shown the North and South Korean athletes to shake their hands and bow in front of each other’s dugouts after the basketball bronze medal match will go down as another enduring image.
These were also the Games where robots became the ‘unknown heroes’ – as the local media put it; serving ice creams, playing pianos, delivering goods and transporting athletes. A vehicle to show that China is not just about pandas – the mascot when the country first hosted the Asiad in 1980 – but also about robots and artificial intelligence.
These were the Games that were much more than a mere sporting celebration; they were to showcase China’s chest-thumping nationalism, the flag-waving fans and the proud, unconquerable athletes.