Opening to be 'better than Beijing'

A top Indian Commonwealth Games official has promised that this year's opening ceremony will be the greatest ever seen, surpassing even the glittering Beijing Olympics curtain-raiser.

"The opening ceremony, the way it has been planned, it'll be the best ever," T.S. Darbari, joint director general of the New Delhi Games' organising committee, said.

"Better than Melbourne, better than any Commonwealth Games, better than Beijing... it's a guarantee."

The comments come as the Indian capital races to complete venues for the October event, after Games chiefs expressed concern about facilities being ready in time.

The Commonwealth Games, the biggest multi-sport event to be staged in India since the Asian Games in 1982, will feature 71 nations and territories mainly from the former British empire.

The four-hour, vastly impressive 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony featured some 15,000 performers and 35,000 fireworks and was reported to have cost about $100 million.