• 
• 

Published on August 19, 2007

Thailand brought the curtain down on the 24th Universiade yesterday, staging a spectacular farewell to all participants in a rain-soaked closing ceremony at Rajamangala National Stadium. China took the overall honours in the games with 32 gold medals.

China had overtaken defending overall champions Russia to top the standings two days before yesterday's conclusion, thanks to their outstanding divers.

Wins by Li Ting in the women's 3-metre springboard and Hu Jia in the men's 10-metre platform gave China the overall gold-medal title with 32, four more than both the Ukraine and Russia. China also claimed 29 silver and 26 bronze for an aggregate of 87.

Russia yesterday won the last gold up for grabs, in the men's 10m platform synchronised event, to finish in overall second place (28-27-29).

Seven silver medals behind were the Ukraine (28-20-18), with Japan (19-15-22) and South Korea (15-18-18) finishing fourth and fifth respectively.

Thailand bagged 13 gold, seven silver and nine bronze medals to come in a creditable sixth.

Meanwhile, Lithuania yesterday captured the men's basketball team title, while Turkey retained their men's volleyball crown.

Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont presided over the closing ceremony, which was also attended by International University Sports Federation (Fisu) president George E Killian, the federation's executive members and the 24th Universiade Bangkok Orga-nising Committee (Uboc).

"As the host nation, Thailand did a good job. It's the best ever in terms of the number of athletes taking part. I would like to thank to all devoted volunteers, participating athletes, security guards and policemen for helping make the 24th Universiade a memorable one," Killian said during his speech.

To honour those who were instrumental in making the Bangkok Universiade a success, the FISU president presented a gold medal to Surayud as chairman of the Administrative Committee, a silver to Education Minister Wijit Srisa-an as Uboc chairman, and bronze medals to Dr Sumate Yamnoon, the executive director of the executive office of the 24th Universiade Bangkok 2007, and Dr Pornchai Matangkasombatta, chairman of the University Sports Board of Thailand.

Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, will host the next games. A total of 21 sporting events will be featured in the 25th Universiade, which is due to take place from July 1-12, 2009.

Preechachan Wiriyanupappong

The Nation