Commonwealth Games 2022 Highlights: 22nd CWG declared open, Sindhu, Manpreet lead India out in dazzling opening ceremony

Duran Duran brings the proceedings to a loud and bright end. That is that from this opening ceremony but it is not even close to being the end. Over the next two weeks, the athletes who were in the parade today and those who couldn't make it will give it their all to win those elusive CWG medals. We will be covering every bit of it here and so do stay with us for all of it. It's goodbye for now! 

The party will be ended by the big ticket British pop act. If you were someone who were exposed to music from that side of the world in the 1980s, this might be a nice little moment for you. 

The Prince of Wales, reading out from the Queen's letter, declares the Games open. 

The Baton finally gets passed over to Louise Martin who does some fidgeting as she takes out a message from UK's Queen Elizabeth II. It is read out by the Queen's son Charles, Prince of Wales. The Baton went through the hands of hockey’s Alex Danson, table-tennis’s Kim Daybell, boxing’s Galal Yafai, gymnast Max Whitlock, and track and field’s Denise Lewis before reaching Martin. 

Diver Tom Daley brings the baton into the stadium. Its journey started out in Cyprus and has travelled 90,000 miles before reaching here. 

The ceremonial Commonwealth Games flag is brought out and hoisted after which Commonwealth Games Federation Louise Martin walks out to give a speech. 

The hosts are the last to walk out with Queen's We Will Rock You blaring out at the Alexander Stadium. Their contingent is made of 400 athletes and they are all out there in red blazers and white shirts. 

So we now reach the continent that has the host nation. Cyprus, Gibraltar, Gurnsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Malta, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

The standout in this contingent, of course, is Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, having recently won the 100m at the World Athletics Championships for a record 5th time!

Pakistan walk out shortly after India. Wrestler Mohammad Imam and Bismah Maroof, the talismanic captain of the cricket team are their flagbearers. It has to be noted that the comedian Joe Lycett introduced the Asian countries by saying, "I’m going to do something now that the British government doesn’t always do and welcome some foreigners." The commentators studiously ignore that little moment. 

Manpreet Singh and PV Sindhu lead out the Indian athletes as expected. 215 athletes accross 16 disciplines. India's medal tally in the last CWG was their best after the 2010 haul and if they manage to match that, or get anywhere close to it, despite the absence of shooting, it will be a remarkable achievement indeed. 

Bangladesh is the first country to walk out. Here we go then, the Indians could walk out any time now. 

Some of the countries walking out are Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Isles, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Helena, St Kitts & Nevis, St Lucia, St Vinc & Grenadines, The Bahamas, Trinidad & Tobago and Turks & Caicos Isles.

South Africa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Seychelles are some of the countries that have walked out so far. South African swimmer Chad Le Clos has won a total of 17 medals. He could very well become the most succesfull athlete in the history of CWG this year. 

The Kenyans walk out and with that is a virtual message from long distance running great Eliud Kipchoge.

Botswana is the first African nation to walk out, the continent's oldest democracy and is followed by Cameroon.

Australia are followed by countries like the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Fiji and then, of course, New Zealand, who have hosted the Games themselves on a few occasions in the past. 

The CWG champions Australia are the first country to walk out. 6500 athletes from all 72 countries and territories will have the opportunity to walk out in front of the crowd for the first time this games. Australia themselves have a healthy 433 athletes in their contingent. 

Bhangra rang out in the stadium briefly as different sets of dancers paid tribute to different cultures who reside in the city. The dancers show the different cultures starting to clash instead of working together and that angers the bull again. The bull is eventually calmed down and the metal armours from its body is taken away in a rather calming sequence. 

Female chain makers pull into the stadium a 10 metres high iron bull, a tribute to the dark history of women chain makers who were known as white slaves in the late 19th century in the city. The female workers in these factories were underpaid and overworked. The chains they made, the commentators say, was used in the slave trade but their state was no better than that of the slaves themselves. The bull breaks free of the chains and seems to run amock before being calmed down by Stella, the protagonist of the ceremony.

Opening ceremonies of multi-sporting events does provide some rather strange mash-ups and this is one of those. Tony Lommi, guitarist of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, performs as dancers perform ballet in prop ‘canals’, a tribute to the miles and miles of waterways that exist in Birmingham. This is followed by a rendition of Hear My Voice, with dancers from Critical Mass, a 300-strong dance collective from across the West Midlands, bust some moves. Soweto Kinch, Indigo Marshall and Gambimi also participate.

The Pakistani activist and 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate is currently based in the city. She starts out by speaking about how she was welcomed into the city by those she and her family interacted with. She ends her speech by saying "Welcome to Birmingham". 

An artistic depiction of Birmingham's cultural evolution, which includes a little tribute to the great Charlie Chaplin, who hails from the city. 

The national anthem is followed with a fly-by from the Red Arrows, the aerobatics display team of the British Royal Air Force. 

The cars stand in the formation  of the British flag in the middle of stadium and Birmingham Conservatoire graduate and mezzo-soprano Samantha Oxborough performs the country's national anthem.