A great closing ceremony ended this edition of the World Special Olympics Summer Games in China which were held in Shanghai during the past 11 days. Special Olympic Malta, with Vodafone Malta Foundation as its official partner, gained excellent results.

The ceremony ended with some fireworks. Vice Prime Minister Lui Liangyu declared the games as closed and the Special Olympics flag was passed on to the Greeks in Athens where the games will be held 4 years from now. It was also given to those of Idaho in the United States where the Winter Games will be held in 2010.

Spanish tenor Jose Carreras sang “Friends Forever” with Chinese soprano Liu Lian. American saxophone player Kenny G played the famous music ‘Liang Zhu’ or ‘The Butterfly Lovers’.

Malta participated in the closing ceremony with athlete Claudio Dalli who was on the main stage with other athletes from different countries.

The number of medals awarded during these games was 13,500 and the number of athletes participating was 7,450. There were 1,438 journalists and this shows the importance the games are given all over the world. Around 1,877 family members were also present.

Malta which was among the smallest participating countries, had a huge success in the number of medals won and it compared very well with large countries such as China which produced 1,274 athletes, the United States, Germany, Great Britain and others.

The Special Olympics Malta delegation will arrive in Malta tomorrow, Sunday at around 2pm with Emirates flight number EK107Y. Everyone is encouraged to be there to welcome and praise this team for its success.