Commonwealth Games open as organisers booed
India duly presented a Commonwealth Games opening worth of a rising world power – but crowds booed the chairman of the organising committee.
After all the delays and disappointments, the Delhi Commonwealth Games were declared open today in a spectacular opening ceremony.
Organisers hope events on the track and in the water will put the PR disaster of the last few weeks behind them.
Prince Charles, who declared the games open, was greeted with chants of “India! India!” before reading out a message from his mother, the Queen, who is head of the Commonwealth.
But Suresh Kalmadi, head of the games organising committee, was booed at the start of his welcome speech to 60,000 spectators.
The atmosphere in the Nehru stadium was otherwise good, with the crowd offering an enthusiastic welcome to neighbours Pakistan, which has a tense relationship with India.
Preparations for the “friendly games” have been marred by a series of setbacks to India’s ambition to promote itself on the international stage.
Less than a fortnight before the games were due to start, there were complaints over the state of accommodation for athletes.
At least 19 people were injured when a footbridge collapsed near the Nehru stadium, where many of the main events of the games are due to take place.
On 24 September the president of Australia’s Olympic committee, John Coates, told reporters that “in hindsight” the games should never have been awarded to Delhi.
