Commonwealth games (CWG 2010) Opening ceremony in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Delhi

Welcome to Nineteenth Commonwealth games.

CWG 2010 has commenced in Delhi from Sunday October 3 and will continue till October 14. The Commonwealth games is inaugurated by Indian President Pratibha Patil. She was accompanied by Prince Charles who read out the message of Queen Elizabeth II. 71 nations are participating in this event.

Opening ceremony of Commonwealth games held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium under tight security between 7 to 11 PM, Sunday, October 3, 2010.

Delhi, capital of India was well prepared to welcome all Commonwealth nations. Delhi has been well decorated with Shera, the mascot of CWG 2010. A balloon, filled with helium gas costing Rs. 400 million is an added attraction of the opening ceremony.

It is worth noted that India is organizing its biggest ever sports event.

619 members Indian team marched with participants from other countries. The team was headed by Abhinav Bindra, the shooter.

A cultural program of 45 minutes prepared by Shyam Benegal, Bharath Bala and others is staged. A R Rahaman sang theme song and few others. Indian cultural dances took place.

More than five thousand five hundred players are participating in this CWG Delhi from 71 nations.

More than seven thousands performers participated in cultural program.

Queen’s Baton was handed over to Prince Charles by Wrestler Sushil Kumar.

Closing Ceremony Commonwealth Games

Dazzling program was seen in the opening ceremony of CWG 2010 at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has also arrived to see the program.

The opening ceremony was started with "Shankhanad". Shankha is a traditional auspicious musical instrument. Large numbers of performers has shown instances of Indian culture in the stage. There were songs and dances in this program. Large numbers of Drum bidders from various regions of India were bidding their traditional drums.

Keshav, A child tablist (Age 7) was the center of attraction of this gala opening ceremony at JLN stadium, Delhi. He has shown his excellence in tabla, a difficult to play Indian classical musical instrument with hundreds of drummers.

Swagatam Geet is being sung by Hariharan and large numbers of children from different regions of India in their traditional dresses were started dancing. They have created "Mehandi" designs while dancing in an unique manner.

Shila Dixit, Chief Minister of Delhi and Suresh Kalmadi, Chairman CWG reached Jawaharlal Nehru stadium.

APJ Abdul KalamAbdul Kalam, former Indian President has arrived accompanied by the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The announcer has declared welcome of players from seventy one countries.

March Past started by the participating countries at 7.40 PM. Australia, the host of 2006 Commonwealth games leaded the march past from the front. It is a custom in Commonwealth that the host of last CWG leads the march past and the present host comes in the last. 70 other countries followed Australia. The countries participating in CWG 2010, Delhi are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, England, Falkland Islands,Gambia, Ghana, Gibraltar,Grenada,Guernsey, Guyana, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jersey, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia,Nauru, New Zealand, Nigeria, Niue, Norfolk Island, Northern Ireland , Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Saint Helena, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, Scotland, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Wales and Zambia followed Australia in the march past. India came and marches past at the last with its large numbers of team members (619) as host of this nineteenth Commonwealth games 2010.

Indian women in their traditional dress Saree were ahead of each team carrying flags of respective countries.

Indian team arrived in the stadium for March past in their traditional dresses at 8. 35 PM. Men were wearing Sherwani and the women in colorful Sarees. India arrived as the last among 71 countries. Indian shooter Abhinav Bindra leaded the team of India. Everybody in the JLN stadium was waiting for the same. Sixty thousand audiences stood up and welcome the Indian sports team for CWG Delhi, 2010. Indian team took 5 minutes in March past and finished at 8.40 PM.

India has the largest team in this sports event with 619 members. They are expecting medals especially in Shooting, Boxing, Wrestling, Weight Lifting, Tennis, Table Tennis and Badminton.

Speech of Suresh Kalmadi,Chairman, CWG Delhi organizing committee started at 8.53 PM after the March Past finished.

Pratibha Patil, President of India, declared the nineteenth Commonwealth games CWG Delhi, 2010 opened at 9.21 PM on Sunday, October 3, 2010 at Jawaharlal Nehru (JLN) stadium. She delivered a short speech before declaring the games open. Michael Fennel, President, Commonwealth games federation and Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh delivered speeches before President of India.

APJ Abdul Kalam, former President of India, Sonia Gandhi, UPA Chair person and Shila Dixit, Chief Minister, Delhi were also among distinguished persons present at the stadium.

Indian dancers’ team performed beautiful dances in colorful dresses in the opening ceremony of CWG 2010, Delhi at Jawaharlal Nehru stadium as a part of cultural program. Thousands of dancers, both men and women, from different regions of India have performed the dances.

They performed Kathak, Raslila, Kathakali, Manipuri, Kuchipudi and Bharat Natyam, all forms of Indian classical dances. Bharat Bala has directed the program. Raslila is a traditional form of Indian dance enacted to depict eternal love story of Lord Krishna and Radha.