Curtains on Asian Games, Sreejesh leads India at Hangzhou tech-colour show

Rohit Mahajan in Hangzhou

The night the curtain came down on the Asian Games in Hangzhou, the city’s skyline was glittering in the colours of the rainbow, and more colours — which is not saying much, for the city’s tall buildings are magnificently lit anyway, in changing colours, ranging from purple to golden to electric blue.

• Editorial: Magnificent 107

Inside the ‘Big Lotus’ Stadium, however, a mesmerising spectacle, bordering on the magical, was put up. It displayed to the fullest the soft power of China, its remarkable sporting, economic and technological rise, and the ability of the thousands of officials and volunteers to pull off a huge sports event almost perfectly, with no hitch at all.

The slogan of the game, ‘Heart to Heart, @Future’, seems a bit puerile, even tacky, as if generated through translation through Google; but it was designed to highlight the technological advances of Hangzhou, a hub for innovation in technology. The closing ceremony, indeed, was wondrous spectacle because of tech. There was a ‘digital turf’ that turned the football field into a huge colour palette, on which appeared changing images like starry skies, flowers and waves. A ‘memory river’ — a tribute to the volunteers, the backbone of the Asiad — flowed across the stage toward the end of the show, reflecting on their efforts to make the event a success. More bewildering tech: A giant ‘virtual’ torchbearer, which had lit the Asian Games flames at the opening ceremony, made its appearance tonight, too; it walked and jogged across the stadium, climbed to the top, flew far into the sky and disappeared — almost real to the eye, but in fact nothing more than a clever interplay of tech with lights. Men’s hockey team goalkeeper PR Sreejesh was the Indian flag-bearer at the closing ceremony, which saw only around 100 Indian athletes and officials in attendance, for many athletes had been returning to India as and when their events ended.

Randhir Singh, the acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia, declared the Asian Games closed in the presence of Chinese premier Li Qiang.During the ceremony, the torch and flag of the first Asian Games, held in New Delhi in 1951, were handed to the governor of Japan’s Nagoya-Aichi, hosts of the 2026 Asian Games.

“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,” said Singh.

The Asian Games, the world’s second-biggest sports event, were brought to Hangzhou — a beautiful city, one of the seven ancient capitals of China, a centre of art and culture — to promote China’s soft power. The effort succeeded to the fullest, with the organisers, the smiling volunteers and the citizens of the city rising to the occasion.

Join Whatsapp Channel of The Tribune for latest updates.

#Asian Games