Shera bades Goodbye.....Closing Ceremony of CWG 2010

The 19th Commonwealth Games, held in Delhi from 3rd to the 14th Oct'10, had a total of 6081 athletes representing 71 Nations competing in 272 various events. This was the largest ever international multi sport event till date to be staged in India.
In the end, our athletes at the CWG did us more than proud by securing the No 2 spot just behind Australia, as the Games came to a glittering end. The hosts had broken the 100 medals barrier, with a rich haul of 38 golds. There were many super stars for us. Gagan Narang, the golden boy in shooting, Deepika Kumari in archery, Sushil Kumar in wrestling, Somdev in tennis, Sarath-Saha in table tennis, Krishna Poonia in discus, Paramjit in boxing, Saina Nehwal in badminton.......& many more.

There was remarkable determination & desire to perform in the Indian contingent & the final rewards & medals total is a testimony to their efforts. The only black spot would the the failed dope test by Rani Yadav, though this did not change the medals tally.  

After the administration & the officials(read Kalmadi & his cohorts) had shamed us in front of the world, even before the games had started, the sports persons brought us glory, their sweat & toil on the turf, reaping rich dividends.
Our women athletes deserve a special mention for their grit & never give up attitude that would have surprised many & it was finally the winning gold by Saina Nehwal, coming from behind, that pipped us to the 2nd position.
The mens hockey team played well to reach the finals, beating Pakistan & England on the way, but were completely bulldozed by the Aussies, losing 8-0...one of the worst defeats. Similar disappointments were from Sania Mirza, Leander Paes - Mahesh Bhupati, on whom we all had pegged our medal hopes.

The closing ceremony had all the light & glitz as the stadium bathed in multiple colours all over. But it lacked the spark of the opening ceremony. The music was average at best, & I was quite surprised to hear Waka Waka being played here.....the theme song of World Cup football was certainly a surprising misfit.....Rehman's music was also quite disappointing.....
Long boring speeches by jokers like Kalmadi (he was booed throughout), were a complete sham....

Now that the games are over, there should be an enquiry commission immediately to bring people like Kalmadi to book & serve an example against corrupt officials.
Hopefully the deserving athletes will now get better facilities to practice, so that they can perform better in the future competitions.....

Commonwealth Games now head to Glasgow, Scotland, which will host the 20th edition of the Games in 2014........