The Commonwealth Games opening ceremony was one of the best I have ever seen yet. India displayed that it has the prowess of getting things right, when it mattered most. The grand success of CWG opening ceremony has to be heartily appreciated as just couple of weeks back, there was a question mark on whether the event will actually be held or not.
I saw most of the 3 hour extravaganza on T.V yesterday and I was very proud to say the least. I can go on and on about the event, but let me put across some of the selected quotes from non-Indian journalists, who literally had written off the games just a few days earlier.
Andrew Stevenson of Sydney Morning Herald
Delhi’s Commonwealth Games has managed yet another surprise, with the opening ceremony defying expectations last night to start on time before going off without a hitch to delight a crowd of 50,000 with a rich and exciting pageant befitting a country as vast and populous as India
Tom Fordyce of BBC
There was pomp, there was partying, there was national pride by the bucketful. Flags fluttered. Horns were honked, tablas tapped. A 100m-high tree sprouted into the sky.
If you wanted to be dazzled dizzy by it all, it was all there for you. Bollywood film directors hundreds of miles to the south-west would have watched this spectacular, looked at their own forthcoming epics and suddenly felt rather overshadowed.
Robert Craddock of The Herald Sun
Indian Games officials should feel proud of the opening ceremony, classy and showy but somehow warmer and less contrived than the Beijing experience. No collapsed bridges. No slithering snakes. No collapsing roof and, blow me down, before a late blow-out she almost ran on time.
Kelly Exelby of New Zealand Herald
After months of ridicule, international condemnation and doubts the Commonwealth Games would even go ahead, tonight was the night Delhi got to let its hair down and show the world a smile.
The opening ceremony was a 2 hour light and sound extravaganza, showcasing the best bits of this amazing but complex nation.
Here is a small factoid about CWG Opening Ceremony – The Large Helium Balloon (or aerostat or whatever you call) was supposedly the most expensive prop used for any sporting event ceremony ever. It was 40×80×12 meters in size and cost about $8 million !