India leads players' parade at Commonwealth Games opening ceremony

London Olympics silver medallist Vijay Kumar proudly carried the tri-colour as India, by the virtue of being the previous hosts, led the 2014 Commonwealth Games opening ceremony parade around Celtic Park here Wednesday night.

India's female athletes were dressed in green sarees and sported the team blazer, the males proudly flaunted the red turbans.

India were followed by Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Malaysia, Pakistan and Brunei.

The Malaysian athletes sported black armbands and their nation's flag was at half mast in honour of the victims of the national airline's two recent tragedies.

The parade will end with the current host, Team Scotland. At the end of the parade, athletes and team officials will be seated on the field of play, in the centre of the live show that will follow.

Queen Elizabeth will declare open the Glasgow Games, which will have competitions beginning Thursday, and organisers said a global TV audience of close to a billion was expected to watch the event that will feature 2,000 performers.

More than 4,500 sports persons from 71 Commonwealth nations will participate in the parade for the Games that will showcase 17 disciplines over 11 days of competition. The closing ceremony will take place at Hampden Stadium Aug 3.