Queen's Baton sets off on long journey

Organising Committee, 2010 Delhi Games Chairman Suresh Kalmadi, today handed over the Queen's Baton to Commonwealth Games England chief Sir Andrew Foster in the precincts of Parliament here today, as the Baton starts its journey before it arrives at the Opening Ceremony of the XIX Games in Delhi on October 3 next year.

At a function attended by the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, Union Sports Minister MS Gill and Delhi's Lt Governor Tejendra Khanna, Kalmadi spoke of the Queen's Baton Relay, launched in the Buckingham Palace yesterday, as the latest in a list of achievements by Indian sports fraternity in Britain.

''Back in 1948, it was in London that India took part in the Olympic Games for the first time as an independent nation. It was in Cardiff, Wales, that India claimed its first Commonwealth Games gold medal when Milkha Singh won the 400m race in 1958,'' he said.

''Prakash Padukone won the All-England badminton crown in 1980 and under Kapil Dev's captaincy, India won the cricket World Cup at Lord's in 1983 while Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi emerged doubles champions at Wimbledon in 1999. Now, we have added the launch of the Queen's Baton Relay 2010 to that list of successes,'' he said.

''The Baton will travel 190,000 km across 70 nations of the Commonwealth and through all the States and Union territories of India over the next 338 days, again creating history as one of the longest Relays,'' Kalmadi said. ''The Baton will come to India from Pakistan at the Wagah Border when we have just 100 days to go for the Games to begin. We are excited about the Baton's journey and about celebrating the Games itself next year.'' Rt Hon John Bercow, who became the first Speaker of the House of Commons to be present at a handing over ceremony from the host nation to England, said the Baton would take forth the message of peace and goodwill across the Commonwealth.

Dr Gill reiterated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's assertion that the 2010 Games would be spectacular. Khanna reassured the athletes of the Commonwealth of a safe and secure environment in which they would compete next year.

Accepting the Baton Sir Andrew said England had no doubts that the Delhi Games would be a great one.

-- (UNI) -- 30SPD44.xml

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