2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony
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The opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games was held at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the main stadium of the event, in New Delhi, India. It began at 7:00 PM (IST) on 3 October 2010 ending at 9:30 PM (IST) displaying India's varied culture in a plethora of cultural showcases.
Guests of Honour
Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (representing Queen Elizabeth II) and President of India Pratibha Patil officially declared the Games open. [1] Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of the host nation, India, attended the opening ceremony as well.
A total of four heads of state from outside India attended the opening ceremony; three from Commonwealth nations and one from a non-Commonwealth nation. The four head of states are Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives, Marcus Stephen, President of Nauru and multiple Commonwealth gold medallist, Sir Anand Satyanand, Governor General of New Zealand, and Prince Albert II of Monaco, whose country Monaco is not a member of the Commonwealth. Significantly, Satyanand is the first person of Indian descent to occupy his post as the Governor General of New Zealand. [2]
Program
The opening ceremony featured aspects of India's heritage and culture in seven segments.
Rhythm of India
Drummers from Manipur, Karnataka, Orissa & Meghalaya played a symphony that aimed to be "uniquely Indian in character, yet global in appeal".
Swagatam
Hariharan led this segment, which created an amalgamation of Hindustani classical, Carnatic and folk music.
Tree Of Knowledge
Sonal Mansingh, Bharti Shivaji, and Raja and Radha Reddy along with 1,000 dancers brought alive India's "Guru-Shishya Parampara" on stage through classical dance recitals.
Yoga
Over 1,000 experts performed yoga through installations.
The Great Indian Journey
This segment will give a glimpse of rural India, as seen through a train window. Art director Omung Kumar created a 600-ft train of bamboo sticks for this.
Finishing Touch
A.R. Rahman ended the ceremony with his rendition of Khelo jeeyo hey-o.
List of national flag bearers
Australia entered first as the host of the last games, and India entered last as the host. Excluding these two nations, the flag bearers entered by alphabetical order of their nations; Anguilla was the first (after Australia) and Zambia was the last (before India). Each flag bearer was preceded by a woman in traditional Indian dress, each reflecting a different part of the country, carrying a placard with the country's name.
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- Ghana's flag bearer was scheduled to be athlete Aziz Zakari but during the ceremony the flag was carried by a female member of the team.
- Pakistan's flag bearer was scheduled to be weightlifter Shujha-ud-din Malik.
- Norfolk Island's flag bearer was scheduled to be squash athlete Duncan Gray but during the ceremony the flag was carried by an unknown coach.
- Other countries marked by a, * there flag bearers are currently unknown.
See also
References
- ^ http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/features/4189179/At-Her-Majestys-service
- ^ "Four heads of state to attend CWG opener". New Delhi: NDTV. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 2 October 2010.
- ^ http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/mcmahon-named-australian-team-flagbearer-20101001-161af.html
- ^ http://www.antiguaobserver.com/?p=43543
- ^ http://www.tribune242.com/10022010_KNOWLES-CARRYING-FLAG_sports_pg11
- ^ http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=175050&cid=19
- ^ http://www.reporter.bz/index.php?mod=article&cat=Sports&article=4650
- ^ http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/news/tahesia-arrives-in-delhi-foresees-great-commonwealth-games
- ^ http://www.crtv.cm/cont/nouvelles/nouvelles_sola_fr.phpidField=8009&table=nouvelles&sub=sport?
- ^ http://www.commonwealthgames.ca/Corporate/index_e.aspx?articleId=2081
- ^ http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Robertson-is-England-flag-bearer-in-CWG/691122
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/commonwealth_games/delhi_2010/9052987.stm
- ^ http://www.trackalerts.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2294:forbes-to-carry-jamaicas-flag-at-opening-ceremony-in-delhi&catid=3806:lead-stories&Itemid=82
- ^ http://www.thisisjersey.com/2010/10/01/tears-of-joy-for-jersey-flag-bearer/
- ^ http://www.thesportscampus.com/201010017958/2010-new-delhi-games/malaysian-lawn-bowls-star-siti-zalina-ahmad-excited-about-being-commonwealth-games-flag-bearer
- ^ Presenters: Sue Barker (2010-10-03). "2010 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony". BBC. BBC iPlayer.
{{cite episode}}: Missing or empty|series=(help); Unknown parameter|city=ignored (|location=suggested) (help) - ^ http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/delhi-games-2010/58397/van-dyk-to-carry-flag-for-new-zealand
- ^ http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5h-3mMfMiyWjuBlOxhPoA60qpBGyg?docId=N0024281285913989499A
- ^ http://www.thenews.com.pk/latest-news/2295.htm
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/commonwealth_games/delhi_2010/9052484.stm
- ^ http://redsports.sg/2010/09/22/singapore-athletes-commonwealth-games/
- ^ http://www.cbc.ca/commonwealthgames/story/2010/10/01/spc-commonwealth-africa-flagbearer.html
- ^ http://www.thesundayleader.lk/2010/08/29/sri-lanka-to-send-90-athletes-to-commonwealth-games/
- ^ http://www.dailynews.co.tz/home/?n=13521
- ^ http://www.monitor.co.ug/Sports/OtherSport/-/690284/1016862/-/xnkvjjz/-/
- ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/commonwealth_games/delhi_2010/9050495.stm
- ^ http://sify.com/news/bindra-to-be-the-flag-bearer-confusion-over-torch-bearers-names-news-national-kkbtOfahchi.html