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Five top moments at the Asian Games
JAKARTA, Sept 3, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – With a glittering ceremony marking the
end of the 2018 Asian Games, here are five top moments from the world’s
second-largest multi-sports event:
– Falling standards –
A flag blunder punctured Sun Yang’s joy at winning the 200m freestyle —
and prompted the Chinese swimming star to demand a re-run of his victory
ceremony. The triple Olympic champion was overjoyed at winning his first gold
of the Games, and all was going swimmingly until the flags of China and Japan
came loose and crashed to the ground as Sun was belting out the national
anthem from the podium. After a delay, the ceremony began again, to titters
from the audience as three officials held up the flags, one self-consciously
bending his knees as he tried to adjust it to the correct height.
– Stray cat strut –
A humble cat stole the show on the opening day of the athletics competition
when it made an unexpected appearance during the women’s 100m hurdles heats.
The tortoise-and-white cat trotted nonchalantly down the track and onto the
infield, as athletes and officials did a double take.
It wasn’t the first animal intruder at a major sports event: a squirrel
risked its life when it dashed in front of a snowboarder at this year’s
Winter Olympics, and at Formula One’s 2011 Indian Grand Prix, a stray dog
held up practice when it wandered onto the track.
– Two Koreas –
A joint team of athletes from North and South Korea reached an emotional
women’s basketball final — before falling at the final hurdle in a tense
match against China. Nevertheless, the Unified Korea team was a resounding
success in Jakarta. The neighbours marched together at the opening ceremony
and also formed joint teams in canoeing, in which they clinched a gold and
two bronze medals. The athletes even learnt a thing or two about each other:
one South Korean basketball player said she’d realised that North Koreans
aren’t “scary” after all.
– Jokowi’s motorbike skit –
The opening ceremony got off to a roaring start with a skit purportedly
starring President Joko Widodo on a motorbike doing stunts in Jakarta’s
streets. With the crowd whooping, he rode into Gelora Bung Karno stadium. The
scene appeared to take inspiration from the opening ceremony for the 2012
London Olympics when Queen Elizabeth II seemingly made a dramatic entrance to
the stadium by parachute along with James Bond.
– Son’s tears –
After tears of anguish at the 2016 Rio Olympics when South Korea were
defeated by Honduras in the quarter-final, Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min
sobbed with joy as his team was crowned 2018 Asiad champions. It was an
emotional rollercoaster ride for Son as he played to secure a gold that would
spare him a career-threatening stint of military service. But it all went to
plan in the end, with a 2-1 win against Japan leaving Son beaming from ear to
ear and poised to return to Spurs to see out his new five-year deal.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1049 hrs