On October 3, 2026, the Chinese newspaper Beijing Youth Daily reported that a Chinese company, which handled the opening and closing ceremonies of the Hangzhou Asian Games, would be responsible for the planning, stage setup, and other aspects of the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games closing ceremony.

The closing ceremony will be held from 6:00 PM (Japan time) on the 4th at Mizuho Park Athletics Stadium in Nagoya City. The sacred flame, which has burned for 16 days, will be extinguished, the flag of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) will be handed over to the next host city, Doha, Qatar, and the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Games will also be announced.

According to the article, the closing ceremony is scheduled to last approximately 90 minutes and will include greetings from officials, performances of local culture and entertainment, the handover of the Games flag, and the extinguishing of the sacred flame. For the cultural performances, Nagoya's folk arts will be combined with modern light effects, and the scene of the flame extinguishing in the torch will also be expressed with light. Unlike the opening ceremony, the athletes' entrance will not be in national/regional formations but rather in a mixed-country/region format, allowing for free interaction such as exchanging badges, taking commemorative photos, shaking hands, and hugging.

While the timing of the 21st Asian Games has not yet been finalized, it is highly likely to be changed to 2031, the year before the Brisbane Olympics. It is expected to be held according to this principle in the future, meaning it will no longer be held in the middle year of an Olympic cycle as it has been.

One male and one female MVP will be selected, with prize money of 25,000 USD (approximately 3.95 million JPY) each. According to the article, all the nominated Chinese athletes are swimmers: 19-year-old Zhang Zhanshuo (male), 21-year-old Yu Yiting (female), and 24-year-old Li Bingjie (female). Zhang won 7 gold medals in this competition, setting a new record for the most gold medals won by a single athlete in one Games, and also broke three Asian records in individual or relay events. Yu won 5 gold and 2 silver medals, the most medals for a female athlete. Li won gold medals in all five events she competed in, three of which were individual events.

In the men's category, Thai sprinter Puripol Boonson is said to be Zhang's main rival. According to the article, Boonson won both the 100m and 200m in athletics, both with world-class records, and also broke Asian Games records. For the women, four of Yu's five gold medals were in relays, and her only individual gold was in the women's 100m butterfly, so the article states that "the outcome is unpredictable," but suggests that if there are no upsets, it will be one of the two Chinese athletes.

The selection will be made by a vote of a five-member jury committee of OCA experts. The committee members include Tayyab Ikram, Chairman of the OCA Asian Games Coordination Committee, Song Luzeng, Chairman of the Sports Committee, and Ding Ning, Chairman of the Athletes' Committee.

The article pointed out that the planning, stage setup, and torch installation for the closing ceremony were all undertaken by the Chinese company that handled the opening and closing ceremonies of the Hangzhou Games. Japanese directors were only responsible for the content of the cultural performances, while the operational logistics and stage technology for the large-scale event were handled by the Chinese team. The executive producer and creative director are also participating from Zhejiang Province. Furthermore, Japanese media reported that tickets for the closing ceremony were not sold out, and the organizing committee decided to provide some to volunteers for free.

Regarding the Chinese delegation, it maintained the top position in both gold medals and total medals for 12 consecutive Games since 1982, and achieved its best-ever performance at an Asian Games held outside of China. (Translation/Editing by Koun)