(Pic, above) Rita Subowo,
chairwoman of Indonesia's SEA
GAMES organising committee
(Inasoc), hands over the SEA
Games federation flag to the
Myanmar mission during the
closing ceremony of the 26th
Southeast Asian Games in
Palembang,Indonesia, last night.
The 27th SEA Games will be
held in Naypyidaw in 2013.
(Pic, below) Fireworks display
during last night's closing
ceremony.Pictures:Agencies

Curtain falls on troubled Games

Indonesia overall champions with 182 gold medals

Football deaths take gloss off a glittering Games for hosts

The curtains came down on the 26th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last night after 12-days of competition in Palembang and co-host Jakarta.

Fireworks and some 600 dancers lit up the centrepiece stadium in Palembang before athletes from the 11 participating nations took over the Gelora Sriwijaya Stadium, at the Jakabaring Sports City, in Palembang, Indonesia.

Indonesia Vice-President Boediono declared the Games closed and handed over the SEA Games' flag to Myanmar Sports Minister Tin Sann.

Myanmar will host the next edition of the biennial Games in its capital Naypidaw in 2013.

The event then continued with Myanmar's cultural dance.

Another dazzling fireworks display later marked the end of the closing ceremony.

The mesmerising closing ceremony, however, was unable to lift the pall cast over the Nov 11-22 competition by the deaths of two fans in a stampede at the headline football final at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta on Monday.

There was a sombre undertone to last night's event after the stampede that preceded Indonesia's clash with Malaysia for football gold. Two Indonesian fans died in the crush before the Monday night match in Jakarta when stadium gates were opened and the crowd surged to get in, Jakarta police told AFP, adding that a nine-year-old boy taken to hospital had slipped into a coma.

Games organisers Inasoc had warned of potential flashpoints ahead of the highly-anticipated final which defending champions Malaysia won 4-3 on penalties after the teams were deadlocked at 1-1 after extra time.

The tragedy took the gloss off a glittering Games for the hosts, who collected 182 gold out of the 554 available in a bulging total medal haul of 476 overall.

It meant Indonesia topped the Games medals charts for the first time since 1997 when they last hosted the competition.

Indonesia bagged 182 gold, 151 silver and 143 bronze medals to finish ahead of previous winners Thailand who ended this year's Games with 109 gold, 100 silver and 120 bronze medals to finish second. Vietnam were third with 96 gold, 92 silver and 100 bronze medals.

Gold-less Brunei Darussalam, meanwhile, propped up the medals table with four silver and seven bronze medals from 11 sports.

The wushu duo of Faustina Woo Wai Sii and Lee YingShi were the closest Brunei came to a gold medal after they finished Monday's duilian event (duo sparring with broadsword and spear) just 0.01 points behind gold medallists Singapore (who won with 9.71 points).

Courtesy from Brunei Times