Curtains down on AAG, but stars not around to take the bow

The star athlete of the meet and local girl Sania Mirza was conspicuous by her absence as she left for Mumbai to take part in the ITF tournament. According to sources, the Mirza family were waiting for the invitation. ‘‘If they had requested us and or given an invitation, we would have loved to be in the ceremony. But since she had to be there for the doubles tournament, she had to leave,’’ said one of the family members of the Mirza family.

The victorious Indian hockey men’s team too were missing. They left for respective places in the morning. ‘‘They caught the first flight in the morning to Delhi and other places,’’ said one of the hockey officials.

As a result during the march past, the local athletes and a few of the Africans were on the ground, much to the disappointment of the huge crowd.

But on the positive side the event proved to a good hunting ground for the hosts. The Indian athletes finished second in the overall medals tally.

India’s 19-gold haul was only behind China’s 25 and much ahead of Japan (15) and Nigeria (10). India’s overall tally stood at a staggering 80 which included 32 silver and 29 bronze.

The Games also did a world of good to the country’s Commonwealth Games bid as the hosts as the 26 Commonwealth member countries — who participated in the Afro-Asian Games — got a first-hand account of India’s potential.

The next edition of the Games will be staged in a country in Africa possibly Egypt, South Africa or Nigeria in 2007. The name of the hosts would be finalised during the executive meeting of the Association of National Olympic Committee of Africa (ANOCA) in the next few months.