Korea and South Korea jointly entered the stadium under one flag for the first time in Asian Games history and the second time after the 2000 Summer Olympics. South Korean president Kim Dae-Jung declared the Games open, Two Korean athletes - Mun Dae-Sung (taekwondo) and Ryu Ji -Hye (table tennis) took the oath on behalf of all the participating athletes while South Korea's retired judoist Ha Hyung-joo and North Korean female judoist Kye Sun-hui lit the games' cauldron. The cultural part was 6 segment show with a total duration of 40-minutes and the was about the enconter between King Kim Suro and the Queen Hur Hwangok was also presented, the main star of the event was the opera diva Sumi Jo. Participating National Olympic Committees All 44 members of Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) with 7,711 athletes took part in the Games. East Timor participated for the first time since its independence and Afghanistan returned to the action since Taliban had come to power. Below is a list of all the participating NOCs; the number of competitors per delegation is indicated in brackets. Sports A total of 419 events in 38 sports was contested in the Games for 16 days of competition. Football and basketball was kickoff two and one day respectively prior to the opening ceremony. Bodybuilding was the debutant sport in Games. Aquatics Artistic swimming Diving Swimming Water polo Archery Athletics Badminton Baseball Basketball Cue sports Bodybuilding Bowling Boxing Canoeing Cycling Mountain bike Road Track Equestrian Fencing Field hockey Football Golf Gymnastics Artistic gymnastics Rhythmic gymnastics Handball Judo Kabaddi Karate Modern pentathlon Rowing Rugby union Union Sevens Sailing Sepaktakraw Shooting Softball Soft tennis Squash Table tennis Taekwondo Tennis Volleyball Beach volleyball Volleyball Weightlifting Wrestling Wushu Calendar All times are in Korea Standard Time (UTC+9) Closing ceremony The closing ceremony with the theme “Returning Home.” was held on the evening of Monday, 14 October 2002 at the Busan Asiad Main Stadium. Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima was announced as the most valuable player (MVP) of the Games. Samih Moudallal, vice president of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), on behalf of OCA President Sheikh Ahmad Al-Fahad Al Sabah declared the games closing. The Asian Games flag was handed over to Doha, Qatar, host of the next edition in 2006. A cultural segment of the city was also presented. Medal table The top ten ranked NOCs at these Games are listed