India for the first time hosted the Commonwealth games. According to the Business Today magazine India spent about US$ 6.8 billion on hosting the Commonwealth Games. With this it was the costliest Commonwealth Games ever. When such a huge amount of money is spent, it is natural to expect spectacular display of games and the athletes getting world class amenities. And India stood up to the expectations. All the events were conducted very smoothly. The opening and closing ceremony were spectacular. Overall the games were stupendous success.At the closing ceremony, the president of the Commonwealth Games Federation Mike Fennel declared that Delhi had hosted a "truly exceptional Games"
More than 7000 athletes and supporting staff from 71 participated in the various events. Close to 70 Commonwealth games records were broken and 2 new world records were created during this event. The games Village provided the athletes with world class facilities.
The Organizing Committee.Government of India and the Government of Delhi took a lot of pain for the success of the event. India also takes pride for conducting the first ever 'Green Games'. The organisers signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the United Nations Environment Programme to show the intention to host a "sustainable games" and to take the environment into consideration when constructing and renovating venues.
The official song of the Delhi Commonwealth games was composed by the famous A.R.Rahman. The official mascot for the games was 'Shera'.
The most standout performance in the games was from the India athletes. India for the first time finished second in the medal tally with 101 medals. India won 38 gold medals during the event. This is truly a remarkable achievement by the Indian athletes. The Indian stars from the games were Gagan Narang, Saina Nehwal, Abhinav Bindra, Krishna Poonia, Omkar Singh, Alka Tomar,Sushil Kumar, Somdev Burman, Annu Raj Singh, Heena Sidhu,A.C. Ashwini, Manjeet Kaur, Mandeep Kaur Sini Jose,Paramjeet Samota, Suranjoy Mayengbam Singh, Jwala Gutta , Ashwini Ponappa, Rahul Banerjee,Harpreet Singh and many more.
Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar-the Mount Everest of Cricket. His Test and One Day International records are unmatched and unparalleled. His image in the Cricket World is like that of Mount Everest- tallest in the world.
He has got highest runs under his belt in both Test and One Day Cricket. He also has the highest number of centuries in both the versions of the game.
He was born on 24th April 1973. He was named after the music genius Sachin Dev Burman. He learnt Cricket from Ramakant Achrekar. He made his debut in International Cricket arena against Pakistan in 1989. Since then he has never looked back.
It won't be wrong to call him the savior of Indian Cricket. He has won victory from the jaws of defeat on many occasions for India. The most remarkable of them that I remember is his innings against Pakistan in 2003 World Cup in South Africa where he opened the innings and played a gem of an inning of 98 runs. This inning won the match for India. In the same match he thrashed the Pakistani speed battery consisting of Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akhtar and Abdur Razzaq.
Hope he continues to play for India and bring glory to the motherland. My best wishes to the Little Master !! :)
5th October 2010 will be written in Golden letters in the history of Indian Test Cricket. This day India snatched away victory from the jaws of defeat by defeating Australia in the Mohali Test.With this victory India has shrugged off the chokers tag thrust on them.
When India entered the field on fifth and final day of the Test matchnobody expected India to win the match. Even a draw seemed a distant dream. But due the heroics of VVS Laxman, India pulled up a miraculous victory. Chasing 216 to win, India reached the score with one wicket in hand.
Following is the summary of the match: Australia 1st innings - 428(All out) India 1st innings- 405(All out) Australia 2nd innings-192 (All out) India 2nd innings- 216-9 Result: India win by 1 wicket. Man of the Match: Zaheer Khan
Brushing aside all the negative publicity that India got even before the start of Commonwealth games, India pulled up a spectacular display at the opening ceremony. This also proved why India deserved to host the CWG. The opening ceremony showcased India's culture and history and it was spiced up by some Bollywood masala. Overall it was one of the most spectacular, colourful and eye catching ceremony ever witnessed.
Some 7000 artists performed at the opening ceremony.A child prodigy Keshav played Tabla and matched the beats of some 1000 drummers. Some 1200 moving lights and 25 stacks of speakers producing 500,000 Watts of sound were used. 2700 shots of fireworks spread over 88 locations on the roof of the stadium created a spectacular display of fireworks.
Prince Charles received the Queen's Baton from Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar and said,"I have much pleasure in declaring the games open." Later President of India Pratibha Patil said,:Let the games begin."
International media highly praised the manner in which the opening ceremony was conducted. Following were the comments that appeared in International Media: "India has arrived: Spectacular ceremony opens Commonwealth Games."-The Guardian
"Commonwealth Games make spectacular start."-Herald Sun
"An ancient land opens its hearts to the World."-The Sydney Morning Herald.
