China turned out a great surprise in the 12-day-long 12th Paralympic Games which closed on Tuesday, topping the gold medal tally with 63.

China, the sixth of the gold medal table at the Sydney Games, emerged as the dominating force in Athens with a total gain of 141 medals, 63 of them gold medals, one more than the total golds of the second and the third placers.

Britain came second with 93 medals (35 golds), while the United States finished third with 88 medals (27 golds), followed by Canada, Australia and Ukraine.

Australia, the host of the Sydney Games, dropped from the leading position with 149 medals (63 golds) four years ago to the fifth with 99 medals (26 golds).

The Athens Games, featuring 136 delegations and 3,800 participating athletes with disabilities, was the largest in the 44-year-long Paralympic history.

It is the first time that the Paralympic Games, the second-largest sports event in the world after Olympic Games, is held in Greece, the home of Olympic movement and cradle of western civilization.

It is also the first time that Summer Olympic Games and Summer Paralympic Games were organized by a same organizing committee.

A total of 526 events of 19 sports took place in the meet from September 17-28, with 5-side football, women's judo, women's sitting volleyball and cycling first featured.

The entertainment part of the closing ceremony was canceled except the eight-minute performance of the Chinese handicapped artists due to a car accident which killed at least seven students on Monday morning.

The next Summer Paralympic Games will be held in Beijing in 2008.

(Xinhua News Agency September 29, 2004)