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span class="inline inline-left">Raining on the parade: The closing parade of the 6th ASEAN Para Games, at the Manahan Stadium in Surakarta, Central Java, was held without any participants due to heavy rain. Antara/Andika WahyuThe 6th ASEAN Para Games in Surakarta, Central Java, officially concluded on a rainy Tuesday evening, with many athletes having to return to their countries without attending the closing ceremony.

Some 40 out of the 294 participants from Thailand, and 20 from the 163 Malaysian athletes, returned to their countries earlier on Tuesday as reported by Antara.

The early birds did not attend the closing ceremony at the Manahan Stadium, which was attended by Coordinating People’s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono, Social Affairs Minister Segaf Al Jufri and Youth and Sports Minister Andi Mallarangeng.

The rainy evening did not reduce the enthusiasm of Surakarta residents who came to the closing ceremony, although the spectators had to gather in certain points of the Manahan Satdium to avoid the rain.

The ceremony started with a performance by Surakarta State University’s marching band followed by the contingents of the participating countries.

Amid the rain, the fire in the Games’ cauldron was finally extinguished, marking the official end of the five-day Games.

The Para Games, in which Indonesia finished as runner-up behind overall champions Thailand, witnessed a total of 302 new records set this year.

Track-and-field saw 196 records broken, including in the 100-meter sprint, the discus, the high jump and the javelin, while 112 more new records were set in the swimming pool, in the 100-meter freestyle, the 200-meter individual medley, and the 4x100-meter relay event. Weightlifting also saw 14 new records, as reported on the paragames-2011.com website on Tuesday.

A total of 449 events were held since the Games’ opening on Dec. 15. The next Para Games will be held in Myanmar in 2013.