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Bindra to carry Tricolour at CWG opening
MS Unnikrishnan
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, October 1
Beijing Olympics gold medallist and Chandigarh boy Abhinav Bindra, will lead the 619-strong Indian contingent in the opening ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on October 3.

Shooting champion Bindra was the unanimous choice for the singular honour of carrying the Indian tricolour at the head of the Indian contingent at the march past. He is the country’s only individual gold medallist at the Olympics, and also brought home India’s first gold at the Games since 1980. Bindra, who is the current World and Olympic champion in the 10-m air rifle event, is also the brand ambassador for the Delhi Commonwealth Games.

As for the march past, only those athletes will take part in it, whose events are not scheduled for October 4.

India will be participating in all the 17 disciplines - a privilege they got being the hosts - with 379 male and 240 female athletes competing for the medals. Chef-de-Mission Bhubaneswar Kalita said after the flag-hoisting ceremony at the Games Village today the athletics contingent would include 58 male and 51 females though India’s chances of winning medals in the track and field events were very limited.

Archery will return to the Commmonwealth Games fold after a gap of 28 years, while tennis will make its debut in Delhi. India are expected to do well in the medals sweepstakes in both events, to bolster their tally as the hosts expected to improve their overall medals from the fourth place at Melbourne in 2006, to the second place in Delhi, ahead of England and Canada, but behind Australia.

There will also be six top sportspersons as the baton-bearers who will take the Queen’s Baton to the Nehru Stadium. They include Saina Nehwal, Samresh Jung, Akhil Kumar, Sushil Kumar and women’s boxing champion Mary Kom, though she is not a part of the Games contingent. Vijender Singh will surely be one of the star athletes reckoned as a medal prospect.

Meanwhile, the mediapersons were a harried lot as they had very little access to the Indian sportspersons other than their interactions with them at the Games Village. The media were to be allowed at the competition venues from today, but the Organising Committee revised its plans and will not allow the media to visit the venues before October 4, when the competition in most disciplines will start. The bumbling and blabbering of Kalitha at his interaction with the media did not help matters either, as he was unable to give satisfactory answers to many of the questions of the media, to get at least their doubts clarified.