The Games will be the largest and most expensive sporting event in the UK since the 2012 London Olympics.
The Games will be the largest and most expensive sporting event in the UK since the 2012 London Olympics.
The opening ceremony of the 22nd Commonwealth Games began here on Thursday with great fanfare and an estimated 30,000 spectators, with the best of Birmingham and the whole of Britain.
Drummer-percussionist Abraham Paddy Teteh started things off at Alexander Stadium, and then, led by Indian classical singer and composer Ranjana Ghatak, the segment was intended to showcase the diversity of the city.
The Games, which have been the biggest and most expensive sporting event in the UK since the 2012 London Olympics, have had to grapple with the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It has been almost 10 years since the much-acclaimed opening ceremony of the London Games.
The inaugural act marked the beginning of 11 days of sporting action in the city, with 19 events taking place at 15 venues in the West Midlands. Seven of these competitions will be contested in Birmingham, Britain’s second largest city with a population of 1.15 million.
Over 5000 athletes from 72 countries will compete in 280 events across 19 sports.
The UK is hosting the mega event for the third time in the last 20 years, as the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) is unable to attract new bidders from among the 56 countries that make up the sporting body due to cost constraints.
After the South African city of Durban stepped in to host the Games due to financial constraints, organizers went ahead with no changes to the original schedule when both the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and this year’s Asian Games were postponed by a year. was done. to COVID-19.
As far as India is concerned, its double Olympic medalist badminton player PV Sindhu and Indian men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh were chosen as the country’s flag bearers for the opening ceremony.