CWG Closing Ceremony
The country shines with the fortitude of achievement. The most awaited games which gave India scandals, shame, name and fame came to an end with lots of glee making every eye a witness of India’s success. The game has taken a long way from disastrous incidents to a booming finishing point of the games.
Commonwealth Games Federation flag budged hands from Delhi to Glasgow, the host city of the next Games in 2014, during the custom segment of the final ceremony on the evening; Organizing Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi wiped a tinge of relief and broke into his first, genuine smile in a long time despite the jeers from large, bountiful sections of the 60,000 strong crowd.
Jawaharlal Nehru stadium astonished every spectator once again in splatter of color, explosion of sound and a song-and-dance routine that looked as if much longer than the half-hour it lasted. The Aerostat, its uniqueness dilapidated off after the opening ceremony, still coped to electrify as it lingered against the black sky.
The jiffy was a coup for Indian sports, which had at last broken from its firm manacles on the lawn. The unspeakable story was that of glowing Indian athletes, who now share national spotlight with India’s most popular sporting superstars, the cricketers.
Chock-a-block houses followed unseen faces from stadium to stadium as the tournament ran its course. Whether it was the invigorating hullabaloo of 60,000 fans at JLN for the finale of athletics, or grandparents patiently gripping toddlers’ hands in snaking queues outside the boxing and wrestling venues, unknown athletes stepped up to the plate to become national heroes.
As the spectators filed out of the stadium this evening, there weren’t many who were talking of cracked false ceiling, the collapsed footbridge, the stained sink or Mani Shanker Aiyer. All this is expected to be back in the days to come but for 12 days and 12 nights, sports had taken centre stage over the nonessential pandemonium after earning its hardest win — national acclaim.
The Delhi contingent had proudly collected the host flag at the end of the previous version in Australia, but little did the capital realize what it was getting into. Hindered in storm, the Commonwealth Games made headlines for all the wrong reasons. But the city put on a show to remember during the opening ceremony on October 3, redeeming its lost pride virtually overnight.
Real spectacle was yet to follow, the Games itself — the tracks, fields, stadiums and India’s surreal medal count. From the boxing rings in the Talkatora Stadium to the wrestling mats at the Indira Gandhi Indoor stadium to the shooting ranges in Tuglaqabad, Indian athletes across disciplines collected gold in numbers, finishing only behind Australia in the rankings. But the best of the country’s 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze discs was saved for the final day of athletics at the JLN.
This new-found popularity will at the very least ensure that more TV sets will be switched on back home as the stars of Delhi 2010 walk into the 16th Asian Games in Guangzhou in less than a month.
Tags: Closing Ceremony, Commonwealth Games, Commonwealth Games, India, Sports
