Commonwealth Queen’s Baton arrives in India from Pakistan
Pakistan handed over the Queen's Baton for the 19th Commonwealth Games to India on Friday morning. With just 100 days left in the beginning of the 19th edition of Common Wealth games, the Queen's Baton Relay for the event entered the host nation through the Wagah border, Pakistan.
The Baton crossed the Attari border, about 30 kilometres away from Amritsar before Syed Arif Hassan, President of Pakistan Olympics Association, handed it over to president of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) Suresh Kalmadi. Kalmadi is heading the organizing committee of the Commonwealth Games. Chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Mike Fennell was the chief guest of the Baton’s handing over ceremony. Artists from both India and Pakistan performed in the celebrations at the Wagah border.
The baton was welcomed by Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Congress leader Sachin Pilot. The Chief Executive Officer of the Commonwealth Games Mike Hooper was also on hand to welcome the CW baton.
With the CW Games 100 days away, president IOA Suresh Kalmadi is sure that Delhi is all set to welcome the worldwide athletes for the October Games. He assured the event to be the most successful and historic one.
“India is ready for the Commonwealth Games in every way, whether it is infrastructure or organizationally,” said Kalmadi on Thursday.
He further added that his country will host one of the best sports events ever and for that purpose, the management is working hard to make this event a success story including its the opening and concluding ceremonies on 3rd and 14th October respectively.
Until now, only England and Australia had been hosting the prestigious Commonwealth Games. This is the first time that a developing nation has been given a chance to host the CW Games. President IOA was confident that India will show the world that developing countries can also host such big events quite successfully.
The Indian leg of the baton relay began when Chief Minister Badal handed over the baton to the bronze medallist of the Beijing Olympics, Vijender Singh and four-time World women boxing champion Mary Kom. Queen’s Baton covered a distance of 170,000 km before it reached India. The baton in the next hundred days will travel about 20,000 kilometres in India and will be horned by some 250 sportsmen of the country in the coming three days. CW baton after travelling across many states and union territories, will reach the Indian capital on September 30.
The Queen's Baton relay has always been a kind of curtain raiser to the Commonwealth Games since 1958 in Cardiff, Wales. The relay begins with an inauguration ceremony at the Buckingham palace, and ends when the final baton holder enters the inaugural arena of the games.
The Queen's Baton for Delhi Games has been designed by Foley Design in collaboration with Titan Industries and a technology association led by Bharat Electronics Limited. The baton has a message inscribed on it from Queen Elizabeth of Britain.
The baton can capture sound and images as it travels all through the Commonwealth nations. It has Global Positioning System (GPS) technology, due to which it can be followed through its exact position. Light emitting diodes (LEDs) that are embedded in the baton will change into various colours of the national flag where ever the baton travels in that country.
Indian Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee flagged off a special train service on Thursday for the nationwide promotion of games. The train will promote the event by reaching every nook and cranny of India.
The train is painted with the logos of Indian Railways and 19th Commonwealth Games. It will reach Delhi by 1st October, ahead of the mega event which will be held from October 3 to 14.
19th Commonwealth Games kick off in the Indian capital of New Delhi from October 3. CW Games 2010 is the prime sports extravaganza that India will host after the prestigious 1982 Asian Games.
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