CWG Opening Ceremony Time, CWG Opening Ceremony Tickets, CWG Tickets, CWG Tickets Online, CWG Stadiums:
Delhi is witnessing a virtual shutdown ahead of the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games as Saturday happens to be a national holiday owing to Mahatma Gandhis birth anniversary while markets and shopping malls across the city have been ordered shut Sunday.
As per a Delhi government order, all shops and commercial establishments, including neighbourhood grocery stores, liquor shops and malls, will remain closed Sunday to avoid congestion on the roads.
The mega-sporting event kicks off in the capital Sunday with the opening ceremony to be held at the revamped Jawaharlal Nehru stadium. Some 7,000 athletes and officials from 71 countries and territories are expected for the Games, Indias biggest sporting event since the 1982 Asian Games.
Beyond the mounds of debris, lengthening shadow of scandals and the frantic race against time to meet the deadlines for the Commonwealth Games, an army of 6,000 young men and women from different parts of the country have gathered at the Army's Parade Ground for practising rhythmic, choreographed movements for the Opening Ceremony of the Games.
TOI had a sneak preview on Tuesday evening of the show that will kick off the Games on October 3. The ground, similar to the size of Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, was bathed under floodlights, attracting the eye of curious jawans passing by as well as giant monsoon beetles.
The 10-minute sequence being rehearsed was "The Great Indian Journey" for which hundreds of youth ran into the ground holding rudimentary props that will represent a giant human train, and will metamorphose seamlessly into an elaborate bazaar scene.
The stage is 80feet by 40feet, encircled by a 30-feet area, where in the course of a 140-minute presentation, Indian culture, from its hoary past to the modern day, will be showcased. Over this stage will be the aerostat, a lighted canopy that is expected to make the opening ceremony a bewitching spectacle.
But to be honest, it is difficult to discern the entire scheme from a 10-minute preview minus the real props or dress. You can tell how effective it is only when the whole thing will come together with music, colour, laser and giant videos on the wide walls of the oval aerostat. Still, one thing is obvious: this is an elaborate affair, involving the hard work of thousands.
Bansi Kaul, formerly of NSD and the lead choreographer, is confident that all the sweat will pay off. His top assistants, Prapti Malhotra, Indu Anand and Poornima Pendse, fill in the details. "The rehearsals start at the crack of dawn, at 6am," says Poornima Pendse. "The first lot of performers, who fill up the ground in the morning, are students from Delhi. They train and then go off to school."
"There are designated practice hours and many of our girls from all other parts of India are staying here at the NCC barracks," says Prapti. A flash of lightning splits open the sky. She looks up: "We just hope the rains stay away."
The two-hour-twenty-minute extravaganza is expected to start at 7pm and continue till 9.20pm on October 3. It is divided into several segments, each specially crafted and choreographed. Most sequences, say the organizers, are between eight minutes and nine minutes - an attempt to keep the programme vibrant and showcase as much diversity and heritage as possible.
The Great Indian Journey, for instance, seeks to create a human train (a tribute to the main sponsor, Indian Railways?) that will give glimpses of ordinary Indian scenes as seen from a train window. Soon the train breaks up and vignettes of Indian life are created - the bazaar, the cycle shop, kite shop and vegetable market where the vegetable seller who, among other things, is talking on a mobile.
It appears orderly and chaotic, at the same time. "There is order behind every chaos in this country," says Bansi Kaul. "You can say that again in the context of the Games," quips one of his assistants.
With just two days to go for the Commonwealth Games 2010, still a few hundred high priced tickets for the opening ceremony remain unsold, while for the closing ceremony it may be in thousands.
"Still 300-400 tickets of Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 are unsold. But still two days are left and we hope that those will get buyers," a Commonwealth Games 2010 Organising Committee official said.
"For the closing ceremony, the unsold tickets must be in thousands," the official said.
Spectators have also decided to ignore unpopular disciplines such as lawn ball and net ball, thereby leading to piling up of unsold tickets for the events.
For the opening ceremony, tickets are priced at Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000, while those of the closing ceremony start from Rs 750 onwards.
A ticketing volunteer said for the opening ceremony, the Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 tickets are still available, but the lower denomination tickets are sold out.
About 22 lakh tickets were put on sale for the 11-day-long mega sporting event, which will start from October 3.
It, however, could not be ascertained exactly how many tickets are still unsold. As per reports, till mid-September, only 2.5 lakh tickets were sold.
Comments from Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Secretary General Lalit Bhanot could not be obtained as repeated calls and SMS remained unanswered.
Spectators complained about the high price of tickets, especially for the opening and closing ceremonies.
Swati Vaibhav, an LLB student from Dehradun, asked: "Tickets are very expensive and one thing is that there are several games like lawn ball and net ball, I don't know anything about these games, so why should I buy the tickets for that?"
Others, who stood in queues at centres like Central Bank of India outlets, said high prices of the tickets are a deterrent to go to watch the Games.
"The price of the Games ticket are very high. Everybody cannot afford that," Krishna Chandra, a MBA student, who bought the closing ceremony ticket from Central Bank of India, Greater Kailash-I, said.
According to IRCTC, a ticket vendor, over Rs 18 crore worth of tickets for the sporting event have been sold so far.
For individual sporting disciplines, the ticket denominations are between Rs 100 and Rs 1,000 per seat.
The organisers said from the sales of about 22 lakh tickets, an estimated Rs 120 crore revenue is expected to be generated.
Four events will have free entry for fans -- the marathon, the walk, cycling road race and cycling time trial.
About 7,000 athletes from 71 countries and territories are participating in the multi-sport event being conducted under heavy security.
CWG tickets launched; prices range from Rs 50 to 50,000:
Price ranging from a modest Rs 50 to a whopping Rs 50,000, tickets for this year's Commonwealth Games went on sale today with sports enthusiasts having the option of booking them online or through call centres.
The ticketing website -- www.tickets.cwgdelhi2010.org and a call center facility 1800-200-1294 to book the tickets -- were launched at a function here by Delhi Lt Governor Tejender Khanna, Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi and city Mayor Prithiviraj Sahni.
Ticket prices for the sporting events range from Rs 50 to Rs 1,000 while prices for the Opening and Closing Ceremony range from Rs 1,000 to Rs 50,000 and Rs 750 to Rs 50,000 respectively.
Four events will have free entry for fans -- the Marathon, the Walk, Cycling Road Race and Cycling Time Trial. Almost 40 per cent of the competition venue tickets have been put at Rs 200 or below, the Organising Committee said.
"Tickets is one of the four revenue streams for the Organising Committee, the others being Broadcast Rights, Sponsorship and Merchandise. I am sure ticketing will raise the budgeted revenues for us," Kalmadi said.
"Tickets have been reasonably priced to make it affordable for all. There will no entertainment tax on the tickets so that one can get full value of his money. We have put in place multiple sales channel to ensure wider distribution," Kalmadi added.
The sale of the tickets will start with immediate effect through the Central Bank of India and Hero Honda stores, CWG ticketing call center (1800-200-1294) as well as through the official website.
Indian Rail Catering and Tour Company (IRCTC) has been appointed the official ticketing agency along with Broad Vision Systems and TicketPro. IRCTC will sell tickets via the Internet, call center, a network of retail outlets and at different sporting venues during the Games.
There will be around 17 lakh tickets available for sale. The ticket sales will be done in three phases. During phase-I (June 1 to July 31), spectators buying the tickets will be provided with a confirmation voucher which will be exchanged for actual tickets beginning August 1, also marking the start of phase-II.
During the second phase (August 1 to September 30), the spectators will have actual tickets against every purchase. Phase-III, which will begin just before the Games (October 1), will see venue sales outlets also added to the sales channel.
Ticket sales in international markets began in November 2009 while sales to sponsors began last month. Each ticket holder can travel free of charge by Delhi Metro trains and DTC buses to reach and return from the venue on the day of the event for which they hold a ticket.
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