The 2022 Commonwealth Games was officially declared open after a grand opening ceremony was held at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Thursday. Olympic medalist PV Sindhu and the men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh lead the Indian contingent. Neeraj Chopra was the designated flag bearer for India in the opening ceremony, but he suffered an injury during the World Athletics Championships, where he won the silver medal.
He had to pull out of CWG 2022 due to the injury. Earlier, drummer-percussionist Abraham Paddy Tetteh started things off at the Alexander Stadium, and then, Indian classical vocalist and composer Ranjana Ghatak took the lead, the section intended to showcase the diversity of the city. The Games, set to be the biggest and most expensive sporting event in the UK since the 2012 London Olympics, have had to deal with the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The opening ceremony is being attended by Prince Charles as its chief guest. The Queen’s Baton reached the Games village in Birmingham on Wednesday, July 27. The entire opening ceremony, which is expected to last about two and half hours, has been created by British screenwriter Steven Knight, who had produced the famous crime drama ‘Peaky Blinders’. Talking about the CWG, athletes from over 72 nations and territories have entered the multi-discipline event. Meanwhile, India had bagged 66 medals in the previous edition of the Commonwealth Games held at Gold Coast in Australia.