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The
Queens Baton Relay is one of the greatest traditions of the
Commonwealth Games, having been the curtain-raiser to every
Games since Cardiff 1958. The relay symbolises the gathering
of people from across the Commonwealth at the four-yearly festival
of sport and culture.
Over the years, the Queens Baton Relay has evolved into a powerful
symbol of the unity and diversity of the Commonwealth of Nations.
With each Games, the tradition grows in scale and significance
– including more nations, involving more participants and generating
more excitement than ever before but the Delhi 2010 Baton’s
journey is planned to be the biggest yet. It is set to be the
longest and most technologically advanced of the Baton Relays
to date.
The Delhi 2010 Baton Relay was launched on 29th October 2009
at Buckingham Palace in London, with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth
II handing the Baton to the Hon’ble President of India, Smt.
Pratibha Devisingh Patil, who in turn passed it to Dr. M. S
Gill and Mr. Suresh Kalmadi. Mr. Kalmadi then had the honour
of passing the Baton to the first Baton bearer, Abhinav Bindra,
the Olympic air rifle champion who began the Baton's journey
with a relay around the Queen Victoria Monument.
The first team of Baton bearers included: Lord Sebastian Coe,
Kapil Dev, Sania Mirza, Milka Singh, Dame Kelly Holmes, Vijender
Kumar and Susan Gilroy to name just a few.
The Queen’s Baton will travel through all the Commonwealth countries
until it lands in India where it will spend 100 days touring
the 28 states. It will then be taken to to its final destination,
the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for the Opening Ceremony of the
XIX Commonwealth Games, where Her Majesty’s message will be
read aloud to the athletes.
The Queen’s Baton 2010 Delhi received a resounding welcome at
picturesque hill station Nainital (Uttarakhand) in the morning
of 7th July. |
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Nainital
- The Queens Baton Relay
