Guangzhou athletes pocket 16 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze in Jakarta

Guangzhou athletes won 16 gold, four silver and four bronze medals in the 18th Asian Games which were held from Aug 18 to Sept 2 in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta.

Guangzhou athletes gave the best performance at the Asiad ever. Previously, the best results in the Asian Games were 13 gold, five silver and eight bronze medals in the 2010 Guangzhou games.

The closing ceremony of the 18th Asian Games is held at Gelora Bung Karno (GBK) Main Stadium in Jakarta, Indonesia, Sept 2. [Photo/Xinhua]

Two athletes from the southern Chinese city broke a world record and an Asian record during the Asiad. Liu Xiang, a swimmer, broke the 27-second mark in the women's 50-meter backstroke for a world record of 26.98 seconds on Aug 21, a new record for that event in the history of the Asian Games.

The 18th Asian Games drew to a successful end with a stellar closing ceremony held on Sept 2. China led the totals with 132 gold, 92 silver and 65 bronze medals, although the Asian giant's delegation was relatively young, with 631 out of their 845 athletes never having participated before in either the Olympics or the Asian Games.

Liu Xiang, a swimmer from Guangzhou, breaks the 27-second mark in women's 50-meter backstroke for a world record of 26.98 seconds on Aug 21. [Photo/Xinhua]