The Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 is all set to begin from today, with the opening ceremony is all set to take place at the Carrara Stadium in Gold Coast on the 4th of April evening.
India’s flag bearer P.V. Sindhu leads her team into Carrara Stadium for the opening ceremony for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, Wednesday, April 4, 2018. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)
A strong Indian contingent is in the Australian city which set a goal in order to better the nation’s preceding showings at the Games. In the early edition of Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the Indian medal tally stood at 64 – 15 gold, 30 silver, and 19 bronze.
Now Follow live update of Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018 opening ceremony here.
17:07 hrs IST: Finally, the hosts’ nation – Australia actually have a jumbo 400-plus contingent.
17:05 hrs IST: The nations participating appear like never-ending Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Norfolk Island, Papua New Guinea, Samoa and Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
17:01 hrs IST: The Oceania region is here – Cook Islands, Fiji, and Kiribati are here
16:56 hrs IST: St Vincent and the Grnadines, Trinidad, and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands – Their colorful uniform are quite impressive.
16:52 hrs IST: The Caribbean nations are here. Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Barbados’ athletes grace the opening ceremony.
16:49 hrs IST: Pakistan, Singapore Sri Lanka are next.
16:46 hrs IST: AND INDIA IS HERE! PV SINDHU IS TURN TO BE THE FLAG-BEARER. India has a 215-plus group. They won 64 medals in Glasgow and hopefully to perform better in the coming edition
16:45 hrs IST: The Asian countries are here. Bangladesh is the first from the region
16:43 hrs IST: Athletes from Canada, Falkland Islands, Guyana, St. Helena are next. They are from the North American and Central American region.
16:40 hrs IST: The Gambia, the smallest team in at this CWG arrives. They have just six athletes in all.
16:36 hrs IST: Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland are next. They are good enough. From tomorrow, though, things will get serious.
16:32 hrs IST: Nigeria is next. They have always done well in Commonwealth Games. Rwanda follow them
16:27 hrs IST: African nations lie Botswana, Cameroon, Ghana are next. they have the good possibility of ending among the top nations in the medals tally.
16:22 hrs IST: Small countries, which includes, Guernsey and Isle of Man athletes are next. They look happy so they can be shine
16:20 hrs IST: Cyprus is the next team followed by England, that led by Alistair Brownlee.
16:15 hrs IST: The team parade begins. Scotland is the first team to enter the arena, which hosted the Glasggow Games. 400m hurdler Eilidh Doyle is their flag-bearer.
16:10 hrs IST: There are plenty of references to beach culture and surfing on display, something Australia is also famous for.
16:02 hrs IST: With the welcome speech now, the Australian national anthem somehow blares from end to end the stadium.
15:56 hrs IST: The totem ceremony has now come to an end and Prince Charles and his wife Camilla are now walking towards the centre of the stadium it is the place where the stage also ready.
15:50 hrs IST: The ceremony is now being graced by a totem ceremony, being done in the backdrop of a shining white light to give it an effect both beautiful and spooky.
15:46 hrs IST: Fans now catch the glimpses of the traditional didgeridoo performance which is also accompanied by a rap song from Mau Power. They are now being joined by Christine Anu, who is known for performing at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
15:42 hrs IST: Progressing with the Earth theme, the ceremony takes the viewers on a brief tour of the earth as a whole.
15:38 hrs IST: The storyteller who stands in the middle of the arena holding a small lit-up sphere, shares a fantastic message of unity.
15:35 hrs IST: The theme for the ceremony is “hello earth” when a beautiful light show followed by some glittering blue fireworks get the ceremony begins.
15:30 hrs IST: The clock counts down in the stadium and we are officially underway with the ceremony!
15:25 hrs IST: PV Sindhu is the main gold medal hopes for India in the Commonwealth Games. But does that put the young shuttler that can be under pressure?
15:20 hrs IST: The opening ceremony can be started shortly. The organizers can hope to goes off without a glitch, given that they have already been left red-faced because of an official programme of the event listing England which is the vital part of Africa.
15:05 hrs IST: For many athletes, the wait for a medal in the Commonwealth Games can be long to go. Though, one Australian boxer is already guaranteed a medal!
14:55 hrs IST: A number of Indian athletes are set as billed as strong contenders for gold medals in Gold Coast.
14:35 hrs IST: Britain’s Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are in Australia in Commonwealth Games. They have, though, faced a demonstration organized by a combination of native rights groups under the banner of “Stolenwealth Games”. All campaigners are all set to demonstrate outside Carrara Stadium during the opening ceremony.
14:20 IST: Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Gold Coast Commonwealth Games 2018. The opening ceremony will be beginning within an hour. PV Sindhu will lead out the Indian contingent also now.
This time, 218-strong Indian contingent is billed to be among the top nations in Gold Coast, with strong performances are expected on these four editions.
Australia is staging the Games for a fifth time, with Gold Coast having strong competition from Hambantota in Sri Lanka to be named as the host venue.
A total of 71 Commonwealth nations and territories can be represented in Gold Coast, with beach volleyball and women’s rugby sevens making their debuts.
