Jakarta braves rain to bid athletes goodbye
JAKARTA: Jakarta is a city which, locals say, witnesses heavy rains at least twice a week all year long. But for 16 days during the 18th Asian Games, the skies held up only to come pouring down on a grand closing ceremony. The Indonesian capital bade an emotional ‘Selamat Tinggal’ (farewell) with a vibrant ceremony full of fabulous colours, throbbing music and frenzied dance on a memorable Sunday night.
For the physically, mentally and emotionally exhausted athletes from 45 countries, this city gave an occasion to let their hair down and rejoice and recapture the moments of having participated in the continent’s biggest, and the world’s second biggest, multi-sport event.
While the opening was gigantic in scale with a resplendent show of Indonesia’s rich cultural traditions, the closing function was all about Asia, a time to display the strong bonds of its nation members. Everything about it was a reflection of peace, stability, togetherness and prosperity, emphasised particularly by the two Koreas unifying for the first time at an Asian Games with the theme of single Asian community
The programmes highlighted the cultures of not just Indonesia but that of other nations by featuring artists from India, China and Korea. But the focus was on music. There was Sidharth Slathia from India, the much acclaimed icon and Super Junior from Korea apart from Indonesia’s own talent like Isyana Saraswati, Dira Sugandi, RAN and Bunga Citra Lestari who set the jam-packed stadium on fire with their songs.
The Games flame was doused with Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) chief Ahmad Al Fahad Al Sabah calling on all sportspersons to meet in four years at Hangzhou in China with the symbolic handover of the OCA flag to the Hangzhou mayor Xu Li Yi.