12 days of sporting competition in Guwahati and Shillong drew to an end with a glittering closing ceremony of the 12th South Asian Games on Tuesday night.
Union Sports Minister Sarbananda Sonowal declared the Games closed at the Indira Gandhi Athletics Stadium as athletes from eight different SAARC nations marched the stadium for one last time.
Present to open The Games last weekend, the Prime Minister tweeted his wishes
In the presence of a packed stadium and a Live TV audience, The Games flame at the cauldron was extinguished and the Guwahati night sky was lit with fireworks...
Players from the 8 nations took part in one last march past around the stadium.
The Indian contingent of course had beaming smiles on their faces, and not just because they were in front of a home crowd.
The ‘home team’ athletes won an unprecedented 308 medals (188 gold, 90 silver, 30 bronze) much much ahead of any competition on the medals tally.
The Sri Lanka’s were second on the medal table - with 25 gold, 63 silver and 98 bronze...
There were of course also the customary performances, Shaan belted out some of his popular tunes...
The evening ended with the ‘host’ status being passed on to Nepal who will organise the games in four years time.
Take it away, Nepal!
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