The spectacular opening ceremony on December the 6th, had a unique blending of eastern culture with western technology. The three hour gala show in the Raja Mangala National Stadium had sixty thousand spectators their money's worth. Raja Bhumibol, the monarch of Thailand declared the Games open as he lit up the Games' flame with the aid of a novel technology.

In the march past, India were the thirty six nation. Hockey ace Dhanraj Pillai led the Indian contingent, holding aloft the Tri-colour. China's mammoth contingent, the largest in the Games had 822 competitors participating in 32 events. Ever since 1982, China's phenomenal march for supremacy in Asia has been quite unchallenged. This year too China, from swimming to shooting stamped their class in every discipline they participated in. You can hardly talk of an event where the Chinese national anthem was not heard. They were literally invincible in weight lifting, athletics, shooting and swimming, especially diving. China, however, could not maintain the high standa5rd they set in Hirosima in 1994 where they finished with 137 gold, 92 silver, 60 bronze medals (Total 289 medals). This year they captured 129 gold, 77 silver, 68 bronze medals (Total 274 medals). Despite that, the gap between Beijing to Bankok. South Korea's tally reade 65 gold, 47 silver, 52 bronze and Japan grabbed 52 gold, 61 silver, 68 bronze.

The games kicked off with soccer. The Indian team, sent after much deliberation didn't do too badly. The Indian Olympic Association, under the auspices of the controversial Suresh Kalmadi was convinced that women's soccer team, which was walloped (36 goals scored in three matches) was worth a medal rather than the men's team, that put up a brave fight by qualifying for the second round despite everyone's misgivings. Eventually, Iran lifted the men's soccer gold by trouncing Kuwait 2-0 in the final.

India's brightest hour arrived at the latter half of the Games. A frail, undemonstrative simple lady from an obscure village of West Bengal triggered off the gold rush (By our standard). Jyotirmoyee Sikder, by lifting her performance quite a few notches, stunned everyone in the 1500 metres. And with her confidence sky high, Jyotirmoyee accomplished a rare "dream come true" as she authored a comprehensive victory in her favourite 800 metre event. The saga of Jyotirmoyee Sikder ended with a silver medal in the 4X400 metre relay.

Jyotirmoyee ignited the burning spirit. And Dingko Singh, cleared by the omniscient IOC at the last minute, that too at the expense of the Indian Boxing Federation, made Suresh Kalmadis eat humble pie as the belligerent boxer from Manipur punched his way to gold, unleashing the vengence of deprivation in every round and reminding all that in India champions are born - not made.

Kabaddi, a very low profile sport once again brought golden glory for India, third time in a row, led by Bengal's Biswajit Palit. Geet Sethi and Ashoke Sandilya were the architects of team gold in the billiords. The same duo battled for the individual gold, a rare sight of an all Indian affair in an international event. Ashoke Sandilya outplayed his more illustrious colleague and stood on the podium as the winner.

The hey days of Indian hockey seemed to have returned for a while. Dhanraj Pillai's exuberant Indian brigade, charged up by coach Kaushik's pep talks stopped the South Korean juggernaut at the Asiad. The gold, won via tie-breaker came after 32 long years.

Those were the Indians who touched gold. Some, however, missed it by a whisker. Karnam Malleswari, the iron lady from Andhra was extremely unlucky to be satisfied with a silver. Her total lift of the iron lady from Andhra was extremely unlucky to be satisfied with a silver. Her total lift of 230 kg. In the 48 kg. Category broke the existing world record. Sadly, China's Lieu Zieu overhauled her with 232.5 kg. And won the gold. The vibrant Jaspal rana, because of a sub-standard pistol had to be content with a silver medal in the centre fire pistol. The women's hockey team did us proud by capturing a silver. Rosa Kutty defied her age to finish second behind the star of the moment - Jyotirmoyee Sikder. If Jyotirmoyee was the rising star, P.T. Usha, once the glamour girl of Indian athletics, finally bade adieu to international athletics in an unceremonious manner, having ended the Games empty handed. Finally, India bagged 7 gold, 11 silver, 17 bronze medals. The chunk of the medals came from athletics; 2 gold, 6 silver, 7 bronze. India's gold tally would certainly have swelled had tennis ace Leander Paes not been sidelined by injury - a real blow to India's medal hope. The much improved performance brought great joy back home. However, to our surprise, India were relegated to nineth spot from the Hirosima's eighth in overall medal tally.