The curtain came down on the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games with Sunday evening's closing ceremony,... but the success of the nation's first Winter Paralympics will be remembered for a number of special reasons. <br />From record tickets sales to South Korea's first gold medal,... Lee Seung-jae takes a look back at a Games that exceeded everyone's expectations. <br /> After a successful 2018 Winter Olympics a month earlier,... the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympics have gone down as the most successful Winter Paralympics in history in terms of ticket sales, with more than 343-thousand tickets sold. <br />It shatters the previous record of 316-thousand tickets sold at the 2014 Sochi Winter Paralympics.<br /> But the competing delegations were a part of history as well,... as a record number of delegations won a medal at this year's Winter Paralympics,... with 26 nations out of 49 earning a spot on the podium. <br />In a addition,... a record 20 nations won gold, three more than the previous record set in 1998 and 2002.<br /> The 2018 Winter Paralympics in PyeongChang also saw three nations make their debut,... including North Korea,... who was represented by Ma Yu-chol and Kim Jong-hyon in cross-country skiing,... after being granted last-minute entries by the International Paralympic Committee. <br />Georgia and Tajikistan also made their Winter Paralympics debut... as part of the 49 delegations competing for ten days.<br /> For the host nation,... South Korea's goal of winning the nation's first Winter Paralympics gold was achieved,... thanks to para Nordic skier Sin Eui-hyun in the men's 7-point-5 kilometer sitting cross-country skiing event. <br />Combined with Sin's bronze from an earlier event,... and South Korea's first medal,... a bronze,... in the ice sledge hockey competition,... South Korea won a total of three medals,... its most ever in a single Winter Paralympics.<br /> With the Paralympic flag handed over to Beijing,... the next host of the Winter Paralympics,... the Paralympians' achievements in 2018 will immortalized into the history books.<br />Lee Seung-jae, Arirang News. <br />
