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2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony

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 10:00 PM (IST) displaying India's varied culture in a plethora of cultural showcases. Wizcraft was given the contract to produce the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.[1]

2010 Commonwealth Games
opening ceremony
Performance of "Jiyo Utho Badho Jeeto", official song of the games
Date3 October 2010 (2010-10-03)
Time19:00 – 22:00 IST
LocationDelhi, India
Coordinates28°34′58″N 77°14′4″E / 28.58278°N 77.23444°E / 28.58278; 77.23444
Filmed byDD
FootageYoutube

Guests of Honour

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The Dignitaries at the opening ceremony

The following were the guests that attended the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games:

The Royal Family

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The Prince of Wales (now Charles III, representing Elizabeth II as Head of the Commonwealth), Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex attended the ceremony.

International Guests

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A total of three heads of state from outside India attended the opening ceremony; two from Commonwealth nations and one from a non-Commonwealth nation. The three head of states are Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives, Marcus Stephen, President of Nauru and a multiple Commonwealth gold medallist.h.[9] Sir Anand Satyanand, the Governor General of New Zealand (the first of Indian descent), attended the ceremony as well.[7]

Alongside the Commonwealth president, attendees included International Olympic Committee then president, Jacques Rogge and Albert II, Prince of Monaco who is a member.Rogge was quoted as saying, "I think India has set a good foundation stone for the Olympics bid and a successful Commonwealth Games can help India mount a serious bid for the Olympics."[8]

Programme

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A drummer performs at the opening ceremony

The opening ceremony featured aspects of India's heritage and culture in seven segments. It featured an aerostat costing U$8 million,[10] measuring 40×80x12 meters and manufactured in Oswestry, England.[11] The original plan was to have drummers on the aerostat, but the plan was cancelled.[11] The ceremony started with the Indian national anthem which was played live at the stadium. The roof of the stadium turned into orange colour and the ground was lit up with three colours of the Indian flag – orange in the center, white in the middle and green near the boundary.

Rhythm of India

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Giant Puppets hang from the aerostat

The countdown for the opening of commonwealth games started as the drums were being played, and fireworks exploded from the roof of the stadium. The aerostat slowly raised from the ground to the center space of the roof while a traditional Rajasthani hymn was being played by the musicians. Various Drummers from Assam, Kerala, Manipur, Karnataka, Odisha, Punjab and Meghalaya played a symphony that aimed to be "uniquely Indian in character, yet global in appeal". Seven year old tabla player Keshav from Puducherry played the tabla instrument in front of the audience live and he was given a big applause from the audience.[12]

Swagatam

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School children from across delhi performed in this segment,intricate mehndi design was painted on large pieces of cloth in 30 seconds.

Hariharan led this segment, which created an amalgamation of Hindustani classical, Carnatic and folk music. The song was composed by A. R. Rahman, who also composed the official theme song of the games, and was performed by various artists along with Hariharan. Children from various Delhi schools participated in a simultaneous performance forming hands of an Indian woman in a pose of Namaste – a popular Indian salutation. Later, they separated and rearranged themselves in another formation representing the Indian flag colors of saffron, white and green while another group of children entered the stadium and covered the flag formations with a large white cloth. In a widely appreciated act, the children then made a mehndi – a traditional Indian art – on this large white piece of cloth in under 30 seconds on the spot.Latest News Updates Archived 28 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine

Tree of Knowledge

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Pt. Birju Maharaj (Kathak), Guru Rajkumar Singhajit Singh-Charu Sija Mathur (Manipuri), Dr. Saroja Vaidyanathan (Bharatnatyam), Dr. Sonal Mansingh (Odissi), Bharati Shivaji (Mohiniattam) and Raja Reddy-Radha Reddy (Kuchipudi) choreographed 480 dancers bringing alive India's "Guru-Shishya Parampara" or the master-protege tradition on stage through classical dance recitals which also depicted four different seasons of India. The aerostat (the largest ever helium balloon built for such an event) formed the leaves of the Bodhi tree, while large strips elevated from the ground, made of silk and bamboo fibre form the tree trunk. After the display of classical dance, the dancers displayed yoga moves.

The Great Indian Journey

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Dancers from all the states of India performed at the ceremony

This segment will give a glimpse of the lives of the masses in India, as seen through a train window. Art director Omung Kumar created a 600-ft train of bamboo sticks for this. It portrayed a common man's life and every thing in it, such as the bangle shops, politicians campaigning, Bollywood, the cycle shop etc.

Finale

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Academy and Grammy award winner A. R. Rahman ended the programme with his rendition of "Jiyo Utho Badho Jeeto", the theme song of the Delhi games, and "Jai Ho".[13][14][15]

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List of national flag bearers

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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.

Order Nation Flag bearer Sport Total Athletes
1   Australia Sharelle McMahon[16][17] Netball 377
2   Anguilla Ronnie Bryan Cycling 12
3   Antigua and Barbuda James Grayman[18] Athletics 17
4   Bahamas Valentino Knowles[19] Athletics 24
5   Bangladesh Asif Hossain Khan[20] Shooting 70
6   Barbados Laurel Browne Netball 39
7   Belize Kaina Martinez[21] Athletics 9
8   Bermuda Kiera Aitken Swimming 14
9   Botswana Amantle Montsho Athletics 49
10   British Virgin Islands Joseph Chapman[22] Squash 2
11   Brunei Ampuan Ahad Lawn bowls 12
12   Cameroon Hugo Mamba[23] Athletics 20
13   Canada Ken Pereira[24] Field Hockey 251
14   Cayman Islands Shaune Fraser Swimming 17
15   Cook Islands Mata Kenny Lawn bowls 31
16   Cyprus Irodotos Georgallas Gymnastics 56
17   Dominica Brendan Williams Athletics 15
18   England Nathan Robertson[25] Badminton 365
19   Falkland Islands Douglas James Clark Badminton 15
20   Ghana Aziz Zakari Athletics 64
21   Gibraltar Colin Bensadon Swimming 17
22   Grenada Imrod Batholomew Boxing 10
23   Guernsey Peter Jory[26] Shooting 43
24   Guyana Cleveland Forde Athletics 34
25   Isle of Man Andrew Roche Cycling 33
26   Jamaica Simone Forbes[27] Netball 48
27   Jersey Karina Bisson[28] Lawn bowls 33
28   Kenya Ezekiel Kemboi Athletics 136
29   Kiribati David Katoatau Weightlifting 17
30   Lesotho Selloane Tsoaeli Athletics 10
31   Malawi Mary Waya Netball 43
32   Malaysia Siti Zalina Ahmad[29] Lawn bowls 203
33   Maldives Mueena Mohamed[30] Table Tennis 28
34   Malta Rebecca Madyson Shooting 22
35   Mauritius Louis Richarno Colin Boxing 55
36   Montserrat Peter Semper Athletics 5
37   Mozambique Kurt Couto Athletics 10
38   Namibia Jafet Uutoni Boxing 30
39   Nauru Itte Detenamo Weightlifting 6
40   New Zealand Irene van Dyk[31] Netball 192
41   Nigeria Faith Obiora Table Tennis 101
42   Niue Narita Viliamu Weightlifting 24
43   Norfolk Island Duncan Gray[citation needed] Squash 22
44   Northern Ireland Mark Montgomery[32] Wrestling 80
45   Pakistan Mohammad Ali Shah[33] Chef de mission 54
46   Papua New Guinea Barbara Stubbings Squash 79
47   Rwanda Disi Dieudonne Athletics 22
48   Samoa Ele Opeloge Dieudonne Weightlifting 53
49   Scotland Ross Edgar[34] Cycling 191
50   Seychelles Steve Malcouzane Badminton 26
51   Sierra Leone Michaela Kargbo Athletics 31
52   Singapore Feng Tian Wei[35] Table Tennis 68
53   Solomon Islands Michael Leong Tennis 12
54   South Africa Cameron van der Burgh[36] Swimming 113
55   Sri Lanka Chinthana Vidanage[37] Weightlifting 94
56   Saint Helena Rico Yon Shooting 4
57   Saint Kitts and Nevis Tanika Liburd Athletics 7
58   Saint Lucia Lavern Spencer Athletics 13
59   Saint Vincent and the Grenadines James Bentick Squash 14
60   Swaziland Siphesihle Mdluli Athletics 11
61   Tanzania Samson Ramadhani[38] Athletics 40
62   The Gambia Fanny Shonoboi Athletics 17
63   Tonga Uaine Fa Boxing 22
64   Trinidad and Tobago Cleopatra Borel-Brown Athletics 82
65   Turks and Caicos Islands Delano Williams Athletics 8
66   Tuvalu Lapua Tuau Weightlifting 3
67   Uganda Ganzi Mugula[39] Swimming 65
68   Vanuatu Yoshna Shing Table Tennis 14
69   Wales David Davies[40] Swimming 175
70   Zambia Rachel Nachula Athletics 22
71   India Abhinav Bindra[41] Shooting 495
  • Pakistan's flag bearer was scheduled to be weightlifter Shujha-ud-din Malik. However, chef de mission Muhammad Ali Shah announced that he would carry the flag and took it from the designated flag-bearer.[42]

Spectators' response

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In the opening ceremony the head of organizing committee faced embarrassment, when he was booed by the spectators at the start of his welcome speech to 60,000 spectators in the opening ceremony. The atmosphere otherwise for the teams and officials was fine, especially when they offered warm applause to the neighbouring Pakistan squad, with whom it has tense relationships. Sri Lanka also got a loud applause. The head finished his speech in five minutes and then handed over to Michael Fennell, the Chief of the Commonwealth Games Federation.[43]

Baton Procession

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Boxer Vijender Singh carried the Queen's Baton into the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, at the Opening Ceremony.[44][45] The baton was then passed to boxer Mary Kom, 5-time world champion.[44][45] It was then passed to Samresh Jung, who was named best competitor of the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia .[44][45] It was then passed to Sushil Kumar, world champion wrestler,[44][45] who finally handed the Queen's Baton to the Prince of Wales (now Charles III).[44][46]

References

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External media
Images
  Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in pictures, The Telegraph Newspaper
  Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in pictures, The Guardian newspaper
Video
  Opening Ceremony – Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 2010 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.
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