The Asian Games with more athletes than the Olympics close in Japan and head to Qatar in 2030

NAGOYA, Japan (AP) — The Asian Games were a blur, a sports kaleidoscope of 45 countries and regions that went dark on Sunday, closed officially by Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani, the president of the Olympic Council of Asia.

The games featured about 11,000 athletes — more than the Summer Olympics two years ago in Paris. And now they head west to Doha, Qatar, in 2030.

This will be a homecoming. Sheikh Joaan is a Qatari, a younger brother of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Al Thani.

Amid the whirlwind of 43 sports — there were many regional specialties featured like kurash, kabaddi and sepaktakraw — the games provided a glimpse at many top athletes who will compete again in two years at the Los Angeles Olympics.

China topped the medal table as it has for decades with 169 gold and 341 overall. Japan was second with 83 gold and 269 overall. South Korea (39, 150) was next followed by India (21, 85), Uzbekistan (21, 70) and Iran (19, 52).

Forty of the 45 countries or regions won at least one medal. The bottom four won only a single bronze medal: Bangladesh, Brunei, Laos and Syria.

Japanese 17-year-old Shin Ohashi set a swimming world record in the 200-meter breaststroke (2 minutes, 4.83 seconds), the first to swim under 2:05.

Also in the pool, Chinese 13-year-old female Yu Zidi won the 200 butterfly and the 200 and 400 medley relays. Organizers named her the female MVP of the event. Zhang Zhanshou was the other prominent Chinese swimmer, a freestyler who won seven gold medals.

The male MVP was track and field sprinter Puripol Boonson of Thailand, who clocked 9.90 in the 100 and 19.88 in the 200.

India defeated bitter rival Pakistan for gold in men's cricket, and South Korea's men won both the baseball and soccer gold. That granted team members an exemption from mandatory military service at home. Tom Kim also picked up the exemption, taking men's singles golf.

Mixed martial arts also debuted, without the cage and with fighters wearing gloves and shin pads. Proponents talk of a long-shot to land in the 2032 Olympics in Brisbane, Australia.

Organizers and the OCA offered an aggressive defense of the games, which were dotted with glitches and larger mistakes.

Japanese organizers put on what they termed “sustainable” games — no athletes village, lodging for athletes on a cruise ship, in hotels and in temporary containers. The transportation system was also stressed by venues that stretched from Nagoya, the host city, across central Japan. Swimming was in Tokyo with some soccer in Osaka.

Despite the focus on austerity and “no white-elephants,” organizers and the OCA added a half-dozen sports to the program. They planned for 15,000 athletes and officials, but they said 17,000 arrived through late registrations.

To cram in more sports, organizers began the basketball competition on Sept. 10, nine days before the official opening. The Olympics often do the same, starting two or three days ahead — but not nine.

“We had some delays of buses and we'd like to apologize for that,” Hideaki Omura, the governor of Aichi prefecture and the head of the organizing committee, said Sunday. He described the event as having faced “huge challenges.”

Some of the glitches included buses heading to the wrong destination, the North Korean anthem played at a field hockey match between South Korea and Bangladesh, and an initial scramble to find beds for all 17,000 officials and athletes.

As is usual at large events, audible complaints seemed to fall off once the event got rolling and the sports took over.

Nagoya was awarded this event in 2016 — before COVID-19 and before the Tokyo Olympics were delayed until 2021. Japan officially spent $13 billion on the Tokyo Games although a government report said the real number might be twice that much,

Nagoya organizers in 2016 announced a budget of roughly $650 million, but late in 2025 they said the budget had swollen to about $2.5 billion — almost four times as much.

The Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, convicted of bid-rigging connected to the Tokyo Olympics, was kept out of bidding on contracts for the Asian Games. Dentsu has wide experience running large sports events and lining up sponsors.

“Yes, the organizing committee had challenges," said Husain Al Musallam, the director general of the OCA. "But our duty and responsibility as leaders was to work hard with the organizing committee, to help Japan demonstrate to the world that Japan can deliver.”

See full AP coverage of Asian sports here

Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko wave the closing ceremony for the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Fire works explode from the roof of the stadium during the closing ceremony for the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Athletes from Japan march into the arena during the closing ceremony for the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

The Qatar and Japanese flag fly during the closing ceremony for the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Japanese athletes react during the closing ceremony for the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

Brazilians are voting Sunday in a pivotal presidential election dominated by incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his ideological opposite, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro.

Preelection polls suggested both have a chance of winning outright, but if neither gets a majority of the vote, a runoff will be held on Oct. 25.

Nearly 159 million Brazilians are eligible to vote in Latin America’s largest economy. Bolsonaro is an ally of U.S. President Donald Trump and the son of ex-leader Jair Bolsonaro, whom Lula defeated four years ago.

Here's the latest:

Brazilian presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro has voted in his home state of Rio de Janeiro.

“Brazil needs change, Brazil can’t stand so much suffering,” said Bolsonaro, who arrived at around 8:10 a.m. local time to vote in a school.

He was dressed in a light yellow shirt featuring a “22” sticker, corresponding to the number that Brazilians must punch in to electronic voting machines if voting for him.

“I am more than prepared to preside this country to give back to Brazilians the right to dream,” he told journalists.

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's government sees a series of recent U.S. measures — including tariffs and the decision to classify Brazil’s biggest drug-trafficking groups as foreign terrorist organizations — as attempts to tip the scale in Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro’s favor, an accusation that the Trump administration has denied.

A victory by Bolsonaro would mean Brazil would join Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica and Peru in electing Trump-friendly governments in recent years.

Lula has made Brazil’s sovereignty a major campaign issue. In the days before the election, his team launched a Portuguese version of the Bad Bunny song, “Lo que le paso a Hawaii,” that uses the U.S. colonization of Hawaii as a cautionary tale.

Brazilian voters prepare number-heavy lists to remember their candidates’ numbers and at the ballot box, punch in the corresponding digits. Brazilian authorities adopted electronic voting machines in the 1990s to tackle longstanding fraud.

In earlier elections, ballot boxes were stuffed or stolen, and individual votes were routinely falsified, according to Brazil’s electoral authority. Now, results are reported mere hours after polls close.

In the lead-up to the 2022 vote, Jair Bolsonaro repeatedly cast unfounded doubts on Brazil’s electronic voting system. No significant fraud has ever been detected.

Alongside regional heavyweights like U.S. President Donald Trump and Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, 80-year-old Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stands among the oldest leaders in the Americas.

If Lula achieves an outright victory against 45-year-old Flávio Bolsonaro, he will cement a historic milestone, becoming the oldest man ever elected to lead the South American nation.

He says he wants to live to be 120. He tried to ease concerns by posting workout videos to attempt to convince voters that age is just a number.

Voting has started in Brazil's high-stakes presidential election, pitting the two main candidates, incumbent Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his ideological opposite, Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, against each other.

Almost 159 million Brazilians are eligible to vote in this tense political showdown.

Brazilians will also elect 27 state governors, members of state legislatures, all 513 federal members of the lower house of congress and 54 of the country’s 81 senators in Sunday’s vote.

Opposition presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro waves to supporters during a campaign rally a day ahead of the country's general election, in Campo Grande, Rio de Janeiro state, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Bruna Prado)

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, waves a Brazilian and Sao Paulo state flags during a campaign rally a day ahead of the country's general election in Sao Paulo, Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Supporters of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, display a large-headed effigy of presidential candidate Flavio Bolsonaro with a message in Portuguese that reads "Traitor of Brazil," during a campaign event at central bus station in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)

A supporter of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who is running for reelection, holds a sign that reads "Lula, cleanse your soul, Brazil" during a campaign event at central bus station in Brasilia, Brazil, Friday, Oct. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)