Prince Charles to read Queen's message, President to open Games

The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles, will read out the Queen's message and the President of India, Pratiba Devisingh Patil, will deliver an address to signal the commencement of the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 during the opening ceremony to be held here on Sunday.

The opening ceremony will be organized at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

The Queen's baton that continued its journey through important places here on Saturday including the Games Village, will reach its final destination, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, the venue of the opening ceremony tomorrow.

Prince of Wales, Prince Charles will receive the Baton and will read the Queen's message on this occasion.

President Pratiba Devisingh Patil will deliver an address to signal the commencement of the Games.

The opening ceremony will begin at 7 p.m. with hosts of the previous edition of the Games in 2006 Australia, leading the march past followed by other countries in alphabetical order while hosts India will be last with the country's only gold medalist in the Olympics, Abhinav Bhindra being its flag bearer.

The two-hour cultural extravaganza will highlight the rhythms and ragas of India and would be performed by over 7,000 artistes including the top names from the Indian music industry including A.R. Rahman and Shankar Mahadevan.

The highlight of the opening of the games will be an Aerostate that prop-up images of leaders, important monuments and themes representing various periods in Indian history.

This time the Commonwealth Games or, the CWG, to be held between October 3 -14, will witness the largest participation of sports persons in the history of the Commonwealth Games, as over 6,700 athletes and delegates from 71 nations will compete for the honors in 17 sporting events.

Indian archers look to strike Gold

Boasting of world champions, the Indian archery team will look to hit the bull's eye despite being up against a formidable field when the sport returns to the Commonwealth Games after 28 years at the Yamuna Sports Complex range here on Monday.

With 2007 World Cup final winner Dola Banerjee, the 12-member Indian squad will target the recurve individual and team events to grab at least six gold medals that head coach Limba Ram has targetted out of the eight up for grabs.

"We have a strong side with a lot of experience. We should make merry in the home conditions and hope for six gold medals with top places in men's and women's recurve section," Limba said.

Asked about their preparation, Limba said, "We have been preparing for the CWG and Asian Games for the last two years. There were no exposure trips but our archers have done really well at the different legs of the World Cup and the Asian GPs."

Gearing up for the premier event, the archers have made an early start in March 2009 with a core group of 64 that has been pruned to a 12-member squad - three each in the recurve and compound bow sections (men's and women's).

There will be 16 medals (gold, silver and bronze) up for grabs with individual and team events in each category.

Tarundeep Rai, Jayanta Talukdar and Rahul Banerjee will lead the challenge against the likes of three-time Olympian Matthew Gray, Australia's best medal chance, in a high-voltage men's recurve field.

Gray will compete alongside compatriots Taylor Worth and Mathew Masonwells.

The Indian men's trio is high on confidence especially after their gold medal triumph in the World Cup Stage 4 in Shanghai (September 2-5) with a record 224 score, the highest so far.

"Everything is going in the right direction for us. In the initial round at the World Cup, we beat England who will again compete against us at the CWG. We also beat Asian Games competitors China (in the semis)," a confident Banerjee said.

Indian archers had begun the year in style as they swept all the gold medals at the 11th South Asian Games in Dhaka.

In the run-up to CWG, the women's recurve team were not as successful as their men's counterpart but the rise of 14-year-old Deepika Kumari, who won a silver in World Cup Stage 4 (Shanghai), augurs well for them.

The Ranchi girl, incidentally, is also the reigning cadet world champion and senior national champion.

The team returned empty-handed from the Shanghai meet, but they had made up for men's disappointing performance at the World Cup Stage 3 (Ogden, August 4-8) winning the silver.

Australia lobbying hard for 2018 Commonwealth Games

The premier of Australian state of Queensland has arrived in Delhi to begin lobbying for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Premier Anna Bligh has arrived in Delhi to launch a bid for the Gold Coast.

Ms Bligh will meet with delegates from voting nations at the Commonwealth Games Federation's annual general meeting on Saturday.

"We believe the Gold Coast really has something to offer the Commonwealth Games Federation internationally," she said.

"It's a great location, a wonderful destination. It's already got outstanding sporting facilities and it's a place that athletes are safe - a great experience for athletes and visitors alike," she said.

Only one other city - Hambantota in Sri Lanka - has nominated for the bidding process, but Ms Bligh downplayed suggestions the Gold Coast was the hot favourite.

"Every single vote will matter and not one vote is taken for granted by our bidding team," she said.

"There are a lot of reasons why voting delegates would support a bid from Sri Lanka - a country that's come out of civil war and looking to create great infrastructure to people and to present them with a really optimistic future."

The Gold Coast team has until March next year to formally submit its paperwork for the bid.

Delegates will visit both cities before making a final decision in November 2011.

If the Gold Coast wins the right to host the Games, it will be the fifth time they have been held in Australia.

Glasgow has already been chosen as host city of the 2014 Games.

Commonwealth Games pull outs

The Delhi Commonwealth Games have been hit by a series of pullouts by high-profile athletes, taking much of the shine off the multi-sport gathering, which opens on Sunday.

Following is a list of the biggest-name athletes who will miss the Oct. 3-14 Games for reasons ranging from injury to security.

USAIN BOLT:

The Jamaican triple Olympic champion sprinter pulled out because the event is taking place too late in the year.

SHELLY-ANN FRASER:

Like Bolt, the Olympic 100 metres champion also had problems with the timing of the Delhi Games. She subsequently tested positive for a prohibited substance that earned her a provisional ban.

DAVID RUDISHA:

The Kenyan 800 metres world record holder said he was tired and felt competing in Delhi would affect his performance in next year’s world championships in South Korea.

SAMANTHA STOSUR:

The Australian tennis player is skipping the Commonwealth Games because it coincides with tour events.

ASBEL KIPROP:

Kenya’s Olympic 1,500 metres champion has suffered an Achilles injury, Kenyan officials said.

DANI SAMUELS:

Australia’s discus world champion has pulled out due to security and health concerns.

CHRISTINE OHURUOGU:

The Olympic 400 metres gold medallist from England suffered cramps and said she did not want to aggravate the injury.

PHILLIPS IDOWU:

England’s world triple jump champion has security concerns.

CHRIS HOY:

The Scottish quadruple Olympic gold medallist cyclist pulled out because the Games clash with the European championships, which carry qualification points for the 2012 London Olympics.

STEPHANIE RICE:
The Australian triple Olympic gold medallist swimmer is skipping the Commonwealth Games to undergo shoulder surgery.

CASTER SEMENYA:
The world 800 metres champion from South Africa was forced to miss the Games after failing to recover from a back injury in time.