DAEGU (South Korea), Aug 31: Chinese athletes emerged dominant as the 22nd Summer International Student Championships (Universiade) formally ended on Sunday in South Korea.

The two-hour closing ceremony was held before a crowd of 50,000 at Daegu World Cup Stadium where participants from South and North Korea had been among more than 4,000 athletes from 172 countries in the 11- day event.

Earlier a “Fair Play” prize had been awarded to the athletes of North and South Korea, even though North Korea had several times threatened to leave during the games, angered by protests against the regime in Pyongyang.

“We shall see you all in Izmir, Turkey in 2005,” said George E. Killian, President of the International University Sports Federation (FISU).

China, which just two years ago won the overall team standings when Beijing hosted the games, took 41 of the 185 gold medals.

South Korea, coming in just behind Russia, was placed third with each team winning 26 gold medals. North Korea received three.

Although China collected most of the medals, the Chinese delegation remarked that “we still need to advance further to reach international level”, in view of the 2004 Olympic games in Athens and the subsequent hosting of the 2008 games in their own country.

Medals table

G S B T

1. China 41 27 13 81

2. Russia 26 22 34 82

3. South Korea 26 11 15 52

4. Ukraine 23 15 17 55

5. Japan 13 11 20 44

6. France 8 8 4 20

7. Britain 8 3 6 17

8. United States 5 13 18 36

9. North Korea 3 7 3 13

10. Poland 3 4 3 10

11. Taiwan 3 3 5 11

12. Belarus 3 3 4 10

13. Germany 3 2 8 13

14. Hungary 3 2 7 12

15. Czech Republic 3 0 3 6

16. Australia 2 5 5 12

17. Italy 2 5 4 11

18. Kazakhstan 2 4 0 6

19. South Africa 2 1 2 5

20. Uzbekistan 2 0 1 3

21. Spain 1 4 8 13

22. Brazil 1 2 8 11

23. Romania 1 2 4 7

24. Netherlands 1 1 2 4

25= Morocco 1 1 1 3

25= Serbia & Montenegro 1 1 1 3

27= Latvia 1 0 0 1

27= Moldova 1 0 0 1

29. Mexico 0 3 2 5

30. Finland 0 3 1 4

31. Slovakia 0 2 3 5

32. Iran 0 2 2 4

33= Slovenia 0 2 0 2

33= Turkey 0 2 0 2

35= Estonia 0 1 2 3

35= Switzerland 0 1 2 3

35= Canada 0 1 2 3

38= Cuba 0 1 1 2

38= Ireland 0 1 1 2

40= Denmark 0 1 0 1

40= Uganda 0 1 0 1

42= Croatia 0 0 3 3

42= Thailand 0 0 3 3

44. Israel 0 0 2 2

45= Armenia 0 0 1 1

45= Austria 0 0 1 1

45= Bahamas 0 0 1 1

45= Cyprus 0 0 1 1

45= Greece 0 0 1 1

45= Jamaica 0 0 1 1

45= Malaysia 0 0 1 1

45= Mongolia 0 0 1 1

45= Bosnia 0 0 1 1

—dpa/Reuters