CWG 2010 – Kick off in style for Robertson

Nathan Robertson had the honour of being the flag-bearer of the English delegation at the Opening Ceremony of the XIXth Commonwealth Games in Delhi last night. He was closely followed by all English shuttlers in an exotic Opening. The competition can now begin.

Raphael Sachetat.  Photos (live from Delhi):  Sukumar for Badmintonphoto

It was a great honour and taken as such by England’s most capped player still in the national team. With his 102 caps, Nathan Robertson held high the English flag in Delhi last night, closely followed by Anthony Clark, who, as a symbol, also follows him in the “caps” track, set to reach his 100^th this week in India’s capital.

The whole badminton team was there, following Nathan’s footsteps, even their coach, Denmark’s Kenneth Jonassen, who probably never thought he’d be even participating in an event reserved for England and its former colonies, as Denmark never had such luck…

But the celebrations are now over and the real tournament can begin, with – just like at the Olympics – a first day of badminton competition right after the Opening ceremony. The team event kicks off this Monday, with group matches which should provide rather easy wins for the main favourites – namely India, Singapore, England and Malaysia, each of whom should logically be one of the two teams of their respective groups to qualify.

Malaysia is set to play their first two matches on Monday – against Isle of Man and Seychelles while England, also, will kick off with two ties on the same day, against Falkland and Uganda.

The draws for the individual events were conducted on Sunday but not released right after as it was expected on site  – which saw some frustration from the media who had waited on site in vain for 2 hours.

Results of the competition can be followed here