The opening ceremony will be held at the 78,000 capacity Maracana Stadium, two kilometres from Sambodromo. The three-hour opening ceremony will begin at 8pm (04:30 hrs IST on Saturday).
The parade of the Indian athletes is slated to begin at 9:37pm local time with a 29-second slot. India’s only individual gold medallist, shooter Abhinav Bindra will be the flag-bearer in his swansong Olympics and the 118-member contingent will march at 95th among the 207 countries at the march past.
The Indian contingent will be preceded by Yemen and followed by Indonesia.
Phelps will be us flagbearer
Michael Phelps has a lot of memorable moments at the Olympics. This one ranks right up there.
Adding another honor to his remarkable career, Phelps was chosen to carry the US flag in Friday night’s opening ceremony at Maracana Stadium.
The pick seemed obvious — Phelps, after all, is the most decorated athlete in Olympic history and will be competing in his fifth Summer Games — but he was clearly overwhelmed on Wednesday after being selected in a vote of American athletes representing each sport.
“To lead our country into this Olympics is something, honestly, that I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do,” Phelps said.
‘Was invited to light the cauldron’
Three-time World Cup champion Pele says he was invited to light the cauldron at the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, but sponsorship deals could stop him from performing the prestigious task.
Speaking at an event in Rio, Pele said he was invited to light the cauldron by International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach and Rio 2016 organizing committee chairman Carlos Arthur Nuzman.
Pele, 75, said he has a commitment to a sponsor that would make him travel on Friday, the day of the opening ceremony. The Brazilian said Nuzman invited him in person and Bach called him to do the same.
“I need to solve the travel issue. It is an international commitment with an English company. But I would love to light the cauldron,” Pele said. “If I manage to change the travel plans, I would like to have the honor to light it.”
Almost two weeks ago Pele held the Olympic flame in Santos, the city in the outskirts of Sao Paulo where he started his football career. He never took part in the Games.
In 2004, Pele carried the Athens Games torch in Rio and wept as he did it.