Some mascots of the Hangzhou Asian Games are displayed at a licensed retail store in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, Sept 27, 2023. [Photo/VCG]

Staged under the theme of "Enduring Memories of Hangzhou", the closing ceremony brought down the curtains on the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, on Sunday.

With break-dancing and e-sports making their debut as official medal sports, the number of competitive sports at the Hangzhou Asian Games rose to 40, disciplines to 61 and events to 481. About 12,000 athletes from 45 countries and regions competed in the 16-day regional sports gala, giving world-class performances and breaking 13 world records.

Raja Randhir Singh, acting president of the Olympic Council of Asia, who attended the closing ceremony at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Stadium, praised the organizers as "the perfect host that the OCA will never forget", saying the Hangzhou Asian Games were "an unprecedented success".

The 19th Asian Games not only demonstrated the beauty of sports, but also displayed the charms of culture and technology, which more than 4 billion people in Asia and beyond watched on TV.

With its unique charm, Hangzhou allowed people to see a more lively "Paradise on Earth", the sobriquet with which the city is often referred to in China.

In Hangzhou, about 1.49 million people registered to act as volunteers for the Asian Games, with 2.52 million people participating in urban volunteer service activities, leaving many of them with lifelong memories from the sports extravaganza.

The 19th Hangzhou Asian Games were the first to put forward the concept of "intelligent games". And the launch of nearly 20 new technologies allowed the games to showcase the development of cutting-edge digital technology in China, and improved experiences of the spectators and athletes.

As the games showed, people from different countries have no reason not to join hands to enjoy the beauty that is sports, appreciate each other's culture and use technology for the betterment of the people.

In the process, they can learn from each other, foster the Asian family spirit which features peace, unity and inclusiveness.

- BEIJING NEWS