评论
打印
India and Pakistan are rivals in many things. Perhaps their biggest rivalry is over the game of cricket. Over 300 million Indians and Pakistanis can watch an important game between the two countries on television. They now have a new source of competition to break the world record for the most people to sing a national anthem together. India was the world record holder earlier in 2012, when 15,243 people gathered in Maharashtra state to sing India's anthem, 'Jan Gan Man'. Pakistan took the record in October after 44,200 people sang the Pakistani anthem, Qaumi Tarana in Lahore. India tried to reclaim the record on Sunday with up to 125,000 singers at Kanpur's Green Park stadium.
The new world record is still not official. The team from the Guinness World Records needs to study the event before it awards India the title of world record holder. One of the organisers, Sumit Makhija, said so many people came to sing that he was worried about safety. He told the BBC News agency: "We'd set a target of 100,000 people to break Pakistan's world record. However, when over 125,000 people gathered, we were forced to end the programme early to avoid a stampede." Rajesh Chandra, one of the singers at the event, also spoke to the BBC to explain his pride at being a record breaker. He said: "It was a proud moment for me to participate, beat Pakistan, and set a world record".
