The curtain was lowered on the 16-day Asian Games on Sunday with China again atop the medal table and Japan having secured a confidence-boosting second place ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics which begin in less than two years.

Some 11,000 athletes from across the continent gathered in Indonesia for the world's largest multisport event after the Olympics, and with Japan moving ahead of close rival South Korea for the first time since 1994, the host nation of the next Olympics can take plenty of positives away.

A gold rush in swimming for Japan, led by teen sensation and games "most valuable player" Rikako Ikee, as well as in judo, athletics and karate, more than made up for a surprisingly sub-par wrestling performance.

To cap the gala at Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, where rain fell on some attendees, the Olympic Council of Asia flag was lowered and handed to the next host country, China, where the 2022 games will be held in Hangzhou.

"It is a significant achievement for Indonesia," President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo told the audience at the closing ceremony through a video message from Lombok Island, where he was visiting residents displaced by a series of major earthquakes that began in late July.

Host Indonesia easily surpassed its initial gold medal target of 16 and ended fourth on the medal table with its best-ever 31 Asian titles, including 14 in the martial art of pencak silat.

The success in hosting the sports event in Jakarta and Palembang, the South Sumatra provincial capital, involving 45 countries and regions and featuring 40 sports has encouraged Jakarta to investigate a bid to host the 2032 Olympic Games.

The regional festival of sports also highlighted a display of unity between North and South Korea as they competed in combined teams for the first time in basketball, rowing and canoeing, winning one gold, one silver and two bronze while putting something of an exclamation point on the recent trend of rapprochement.

(Volunteer workers for the Asian Games)

Japan, which sent a record-high 762-athlete delegation, was hit early on in its Asiad campaign with a humiliating scandal that resulted in four male basketball players being expelled for buying sex in Jakarta.

Despite the scandal casting a shadow over the delegation, Japan goes home with 205 medals -- 75 gold, 56 silver and 74 bronze. The performance is significantly better than the 47 gold won at the 2014 Incheon Games and 48 in the 2010 Guangzhou Games.

Below is the five of final medals table of the Asian Games in Indonesia:

*

G S B Total

China 132 92 65 289

Japan 75 56 74 205

South Korea 49 58 70 177

Indonesia 31 24 43 98

Uzbekistan 21 24 25 70

Japan's 75 gold medals are its equal-second most ever, behind only the 78 it won when topping the medal table at the 1966 Asian Games in Bangkok and tied with the 1974 event in Tehran.

In the latest edition, including all 32 Tokyo Olympic sports, with the lone exception of surfing, China won 132 gold medals and South Korea 49. Non-Olympic disciplines such as kabaddi, sepak takraw, wushu and the card game bridge were also contested.

(Japanese gold medal winners)

Japan has set a target of 30 gold medals for the Tokyo Olympics, almost double the nation's record, but did not set a medal target for the Asian Games, prioritizing its athletes' progress toward the 2020 games rather than results.

In wrapping Japan's performance at the Asian Games, delegation chief Yasuhiro Yamashita said it was "far better than expected," adding, "what is more important is how we connect them to 2020."

In some events, Japan showed it can match or better China's best.

In the pool, for example, 18-year-old star Ikee alone won six gold, the most ever by a female athlete at an Asian Games, and two silver, contributing to the total of 52 medals, including 19 gold, the same as China.

In badminton, Japan claimed the women's team title for the first time in 48 years by defeating China and ending its winning streak at five games. In fencing, Japan's women's foil team and men's epee team took victory after prevailing over the regional heavyweights.

(The event's MVP Rikako Ikee, bearing a national flag, at the closing)

Japan's judoka, despite not sending their top athletes, won nine gold, while four titles came in karate. One of the biggest highlights came on the athletics track when the men's 4x100-meter foursome won the country's first Asian Games gold in the event in 20 years.

Meanwhile, at wrestling, traditionally Japan's strongest sport, the country had an unexpectedly disastrous time, ending with just one gold, its worst performance since the 2002 Busan Games.

Aside from karate, athletes also gained valuable experience competing in high-level skateboarding and sport climbing, also sports making their debut at the Tokyo Olympics, at the same time as softball and baseball will return.

Some 135 players from 18 countries took part in esports, or competitive video gaming, which was held as a demonstration event for the first time at the Asiad, ahead of a full medal inclusion at the 2022 Asian Games in the Chinese city of Hangzhou.