England’s swimmers get the team’s Commonwealth Games campaign underway on day one with double Olympic champion Rebecca Adlington going for gold in the 200m freestyle on her Games debut.
Adlington will take her first plunge into the pool at the Mukherjee Aquatic Centre with the heats at 8.30am.
Just half an hour later flag bearer Nathan Robertson will be among England badminton’s mixed team as they step onto the court at the Siri Fort Sports Complex for the opening pool game against the Falkland Islands.
The team, who are looking to continue England’s strong showing at the Commonwealths, have a second pool C against Uganda at 19.00. If Anthony Clark plays in both games, he will become only the 13th England badminton player to reach 100 caps.
By then Adlington could have become England’s first medallist of the Games. Her final is at 16.00 while Jo Jackson will also be competing in the pool, as will 16-year-old Achieng Ajula-Bushell, in the 50m fly, and Liam Tancock in the semi-finals of his world title event, the 50m backstroke.
Andrew Baggaley is aiming to continue his record of winning a medal at every Commonwealth Games to feature table tennis as the men’s and women’s team events get underway with rounds one and two.
England’s netballers launch their Delhi 2010 campaign against Barbados. England have twice been bronze medallists at the Commonwealth Games, including at the last Games in Melbourne. Seven members of that Melbourne squad feature in the 12-strong team for Delhi, including co-captains Karen Atkinson and Sonia Mkoloma.
Tennis makes its Games debut in Delhi and British number two Katie O’Brien features in the seven-strong tennis team along with Sarah Borwell and Ross Hutchins. Hutchins will be hoping to impress in front of his father, former Davis Cup captain Paul, who manages the team. The opening round of mixed doubles, women’s singles and men’s singles take place at the RK Khanna Tennis Stadium.
England’s archers come to Delhi sharing top spot in the sport’s all-time Games medal table. Larry Godfrey, Simon Terry and Olympic medallist Alison Williamson will all feature in the recurve ranking round at the Yamuna Sports Complex.
At 15.00 Danielle Brown will become the first Paralympian to represent England in an able-bodied event at the Commonwealth Games when she fires her first arrow in the women’s individual compound.
The 22-year-old law graduate from West Yorkshire, who suffers from reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a painful neurological condition, won gold in the Beijing Paralympics in 2008 in the same event, breaking her own world record in the process.
Squash world number twos Nick Matthew and Jenny Duncalf will be in action in the opening round of the men’s and women’s singles.
Amy Monkhouse will be looking to get in the medals at her third successive Games as the lawn bowls programme begins with the opening round of the men’s and women’s pairs and triples. England’s triples teams both won gold at the Games test event earlier in the year.
The winner of the men’s artistic team final will collect the 100th gymnastics gold medal in Commonwealth Games history – which is pretty good incentive for the five gymnasts trying to get England to the evening final. They include Luke Folwell, a member of England’s bronze medal-winning all-around team in Melbourne, and Reiss Beckford making his senior international debut.
England top the all-time boxing medal table at Commonwealth Games. The 10-strong team in Delhi includes European silver medallists Iain Weaver in the bantamweight division and lightweight Tom Stalker. The weighing in takes place at the Games Village at 8.00am before the action starts on day two.