NEW DELHI: The national capital is all set to host the biggest ever sporting extravaganza in the country. All preparations for the Commonwealth Games-2010 have been completed and the game would start on Sunday. According to AIR the opening ceremony will begin at 7 pm with hosts of the previous edition of the Games in 2006 Australia, leading the march past followed by other countries in alphabetical order while hosts India will be last with the country’s only gold medallist in the Olympics, Abhinav Bhindra being its flag bearer.
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The Queen’s baton Saturday continued its journey through important places in the national capital including the Games Village. It will reach its final destination, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the venue of the opening ceremony tomorrow. The Baton will be received by the Prince of Wales, Prince Charles who will read The Queen’s message. President of India Mrs. Pratiba Devisingh Patil will deliver an address to signal the commencement of the Games.
The 2-hour cultural extravaganza will highlight the rhythms and ragas of India and would be performed by over 7,000 artistes including the top names from the Indian music industry including A.R. Rahman and Shankar Mahadevan. The highlight of the opening of the games will be an Aerostat that will prop-up images of leaders, important monuments and themes representing various periods in Indian history.
The Presidents of Maldives Mohamed Nasheed and President Marcus Stephen of Nauru are among the dignitaries who will be attending the inaugural ceremony. The guests also include New Zealand Governor General Sir Anand Satyanand, Monaco’s Prince Albert II. Also present at the ceremony would be International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge.
Prince Charles of Wales who will represent Queen Elizabeth of England at the opening ceremony and Duchess of Cornwall today paid a courtesy call on the President Mrs Pratibha Devi Singh Patil.
The games would see the largest participation of sports persons in the history of the CWG as more than 6700 athletes and officials from 71 nations will vie for honours in 17 sporting events. Hosts India have the largest contingent of 619 athletes, 379 men and 240 women who will compete in all the 17 disciplines.
The big names of the Indian music industry including the Oscar award winner A.R. Rahman will be performing alongside 7000 artistes. The aerostat, a helium-filled balloon that would prop up images of leaders, important monuments and themes representing various periods in Indian history will be the showpiece of the opening ceremony.
Athletes at the games village are having a gala time and have been pleasantly surprised at the facilities on offer, which they said were of truly international standard. They were of the opinion that sections of the media have been very unkind to the organisers.