Opening Ceremony

The 2010 Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony will be held on 3rd October at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. This opening ceremony will include
certain events as follows.

There will be a single flag bearer that will lead the parade of the participating nations in the opening ceremony. 

In the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010, marching event will form an important part. The participating nations will join the marching event
according to the alphabetical order. 

According to the protocol, the host nation of the previous Commonwealth Game 2006 Australia will lead the marching event, whereas the present host nation India will
be the last. Also India's national anthem Jana Mana Gana will be played at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.  

According to the protocol of the Commonwealth Games, the last and final carrier of the baton will be a well-known  personality from the sports arena, from India, the
host country. 

There will be a lot of musical extravaganza consisting many Indian and foreign artists. There will be also a lot of fireworks. Many celebrities from sports, bollywood and
politics will address the gathering people and athletes. The event will be inaugurated with the presence of President of Indian Olympic Association.

closing Ceremony
Commonwealth Games 2010 Closing Ceremony is to be held at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, New Delhi, India on 14th October. The closing ceremony is to include certain
events. 
Like the opening ceremony, the closing ceremony will also to be attended by celebrities from sports, flim and political fraternity. There will be some lively dance and
music performance by Indian and foreign artists. 

This event will also consist of a small presentation on the next Game in 2014
in Glasgow, display of lightning and fireworks, presence and dance of celebrities and Commonwealth nation’s flag parade. The program was followed by a short
promotional video of the next Commonwealth Games. 

During the 2010 Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, the Commonwealth Games Ceremonial Flag will be handed to Glasgow, which will be the next host city.  

In addition to this Delhi Government is going to organize big cultural events on the closing day. This cultural programme will comprise dance, music, folk and modern
music, screening of films and puppet shows. Through this government will showcase Delhi's composite culture as well as the diversity of Indian culture.

Event
Sporting Events
The following sporting events are scheduled to be held at the 2010 Commonwealth Games at Delhi:

 Archery
 Badminton
 Cycling
 Gymnastics
 Lawn Bowls
 Rugby 7s
 Squash
 Tennis
 Wrestling
 Aquatics
 Athletics
 Boxing
 Hockey
 Netball
 Shooting
 Table Tennis
 Weightlifting

The administration of the sporting event is under the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF).

Unique Participation
Commonwealth Events resemble-but do not mirror Olympic sporting events. The list of games played include sports that are unique to Commonwealth nation states like Netball
and Rugby 7s. There are approximately 53 member nations of the Commonwealth. However, approximately 71 teams take part. This anomaly is due to the fact that many
countries send multiple teams that reflect the nation's ethnic or regional diversity. For example, United Kingdom itself sends 4 teams- Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales, and
England. New Zealand sees participation from two non-sovereign states- Niue and Cook Islands.
Starting Point
The first Commonwealth Games were held in 1930 in the city of Hamilton, Ontario province, Canada. At that time the games were known as the British Empire Games. In 1974,
the name was finally changed to Commonwealth Games. 

Controversies
The Commonwealth Games had its fair share of controversies in its illustrious history. The African country of Nigeria boycotted the 1978 series in protest against New Zealand's
contact with apartheid era of South Africa in those times.

India’s Chances of Hosting International Sporting Events

Nearly 30 years after hosting the Asian games in 1982, India is set to host the XIX Common Wealth Games 2010 at Delhi. With just over a couple of months to go, Delhi is
confident of staging the best ever Common Wealth Games. The green common wealth games being hosted will certainly give the country a competitive edge over others and
hence an anticipation of a better show compared to Melbourne. Not only India’s reputation is coupled with the CWG 2010, but also the future of sports in India. If India delivers a
good show, The International Olympic Committee (IOC) may consider India’s bid for the 2020 summer Olympic.

Hosting the CWG successfully will certainly catapult India’s status internationally. However success should not be use just to define economic status, but to redefine sports in
India. But it remains to be seen what the Sports Ministry does after the CWG to keep the youths hooked to sports and developed sports in every sphere. Children’s should be
encouraged to take up sports while schools and colleges should be directed to introduce sports. Apart from developing players, world class infrastructure should also be in place
to provide the best training facilities to our athletes’.

If countries like China and Brazil have the capacity and mettle to hold Olympics why should India lack behind. Brazil will be hosting the world’s two largest sporting event in a
span of two years – The 2014 FIFA World Cup followed by The Olympics in 2016. On the other hand China will be hosting the Asian Games this year in Guangzhou after
hosting the best ever Olympics in 2008. So, India should go full on from now to successfully bid for the 2020 Olympic. If successful, then India should also bid for the 2015 Afro-
Asian Games and 2018 Summer Youth Olympics to keep a brace with the preparation for the 2020 Olympic. Then 2023 should see India hosting the Asian Games again after
41 years and ultimately the FIFA World Cup in 2026 or 2030.

However all these events should be hosted in other cities of India like Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai so that sporting infra and facilities are evenly spread out across the country
instead of concentrating it in Delhi alone. This will eventually help in tapping and developing talented youths throughout the country and also provide a world class training
facilities in each region of the country. A good infrastructure and training facilities will also boost the morality of Indian parents, who refrain from sports being taken up as a
profession by their children’s.

India’s chances of successfully bidding the above events are quiet high considering the CWG 2010 is a grand success. After successfully hosting the first ever Afro-Asian
Games in Hyderabad in 2003, the second edition at Algiers in 2007 has been indefinitely postponed. Host for the 2011 has not been announced yet and is likely to be called off
too. So, India stands a good chance of revitalizing the ailing competition in 2015. Coming to the 2018 Youth Olympic, India again stands a chance because it has never hosted
before. Moreover it will serve as a testing ground for the built up for the 2020 Olympic.

As far as the Asiad is concern, India has a good chance of hosting the XIX edition in 2023 after its failure to bid for the 2019 games. Moreover India, with its reputation of being
the power house of Asia, hasn’t stage the Asiad since 1982. Then comes the main target of hosting the FIFA World Cup in either 2026 or 2030 provided any Asian Country don’t
host it in its two preceding editions, which is quiet likely. Meanwhile hosting events like the Cricket World Cup, World Badminton Championship and others related events will
establish India as a global hub for sports.

If India can achieve these in the coming 20 years, sports scenario of the country would change immensely and India will be a global player in sports.