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A grand opening ceremony at Glasgow was graced by Commonwealth Head Queen Elizabeth II, British Prime Minister David Cameron and his cabinet colleagues, Scotland’s First Minister Alex Salmond and his colleagues in the government and other dignitaries from Commonwealth nations. The parade was one of the focal points of the ceremony which lasted for almost two hours.
Almost 4,500 sportspersons from 71 Commonwealth nations participated in the parade for the Games which will showcase 17 disciplines over 11 days of fierce competition. Celtic Park felt at peace when the Queen read out the message written on the Queen’s Baton, which had travelled to 71 nations and territories of the Commonwealth in a relay for 288 days before the Games were declared open.
The spectators seemed very excited while waiting eagerly for the performances from Scottish singing legend and Grammy Award winner Rod Stewart. Other than that, one of the main highlights was also the performance of Scottish singer Susan Boyle, who shot to fame in the ITV talent show ‘Britain`s Got Talent’ in 2009.
The opening ceremony was also live on YouTube, for the first time in any CWG.
Ewan McGregor gets the event rolling
Ewan McGregor appeared on the screen and was seen speaking about the noble cause from the UNICEF, and soon after that the audience were shown some of the most beautiful pictures of Scotland. People were not even finished appreciating the breathtaking beauty of the locales when suddenly John Barrowman and Karen Dunbar, surrounded by a lot of dancers, welcomed the spectators with the song “Welcome to Scotland”. Onlookers could not stop hooting and they were seen enjoying the initial performance.
Karen Dunbar, the comedian, then took over and welcomed the viewers once again and then the visual shifted to Amy MacDonald playing the guitar and welcoming the spectators. Amy sang the same song again and was joined by Rod Stewart, who finished the song.
The Queen makes her entrance
After an initial round of introduction of the dignitaries, Susan Boyle enthralled the crowd with her stirring voice. And then it was time for the arrival of the Scottish regiment with their pipes and drums. The moment they took the stage there were nine jets which buzzed past the Celtic park. The Queen was then seen arriving in a black car and she received a warm welcome from the crowd of Glasgow.
Soon after everybody settled down, there was another visual played where a mini jet was seen drifting over Scotland. Scottish cyclist Mark Beaumont came out of the jet and was seen carrying the baton across the town. In no time, a group of dancers took center stage and a lady entered to welcome the countries.
India get the parade started; Sachin Tendulkar makes a special appearance
By virtue of being the host nation at the previous edition, the first contingent in the parade was India. The tri-colour flag was clearly seen from a distance, as the Indian athletes were seen marching with pride. 215 athletes are representing the country and Vijay Kumar got the honour to carry the Indian flag. Other athletes marched to the tune of various Bollywood songs in the background.
After that Ewan McGregor once again appeared on the screen; he had come back to fulfill his promise. Earlier when he left he had told the audience that something special was about to unfold very soon. He was back with that surprise. He first spoke about the children and UNICEF and then introduced the batting maestro – SACHIN TENDULKAR.
After the hooting stopped a short video was played which showed the master blaster making an appeal on behalf of UNICEF.
The other countries follow, ending with Scotland
The parade was followed by Bangladesh and then Malaysia who were the hosts of 1998 CWG. Maldives were the next in line with a very small contingent. Neighbouring country Pakistan came marching in and received a loud cheer from the crowd. Singapore came in next with 70 athletes followed by Sri Lanka.
Keeley Hawes, an ambassador of UNICEF was seen in another short visual which showed the need to help kids in different parts of the world. Next, the country with an incredible record in CWG – Australia – entered. They have over 400 athletes participating this year and the contingent had some pretty legendary athletes.
Soon the rest of the countries started marching in one after the other and all 71 nations took a couple of hours to complete the parade.
Finally, the hosts were the last to march down the road. All the athletes looked beautiful in great uniforms, and the crowd went berserk with the shouting and cheering getting louder every second. The entire Celtic Park was on its feet as the Scots marched around the stadium.
The fireworks then came out, filling the sky with glittering sights for the next few minutes. As Rod Stewart came back on the stage with “Can’t stop me now”, Sir Chris Hoy and James McAvoy took over the stage. They appealed to the audience to make donations for UNICEF’s Children of Commonwealth fund. A song followed which was sung by a group of children.
The ceremonial flag and oath
Now it was time for Scottish Violinist Nicola Benedetti to perform. As she was playing “The Bonnie Bonnie Banks”, Ian Thorpe came to the stage with Chantal Petitclerc, Kip Keino, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Graeme Randall. They were all holding the ceremonial flag of the Commonwealth Games Federation. Fireworks started again and then three Scottish athletes took the oath on behalf of all the other athletes participating in Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
After the oath it was time for the First Minister Alex Salmond to give a short speech. He appealed to the people at Celtic Park to observe two minutes’ silence for the victims of the recent Malaysian airlines plane crash. He concluded his speech by saying, “Commonwealth Games belong to all of us. Welcome to Scotland.”
This was followed by a speech from Gordon Matheson, the leader of the Glasgow City Council.
The Queen receives the baton, and declares the Games open
The baton had finally arrived. It was brought in by a young girl from Jamaica and then passed on to volunteers before reaching Sir Chrish Hoy via his great uncle, and then Hoy finally delivered it to the queen. Prince Imran was seen struggling with the baton, providing a few moments of comedy for the crowd, as he could not open it until Hoy offered to help.
Finally it reached Her Majesty after which the Queen’s message was delivered, and it was concluded by the Queen saying, “I now declare the Commonwealth Games open.”
More fireworks followed and that marked an end to a fantastic opening ceremony and the beginning of a fantastic 11 days of sporting competition.
