The Commonwealth Games Baton in Canada

Published Fri, Apr 16 10 02:25 AM

Bal Krishna Ottawa, Apr 15 (PTI) The Queen''s Baton for the Delhi Commonwealth Games arrived here with great fanfare today as part of its 71-nation journey ahead of the October games. Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister for Sports Gary Lunn, Speaker of House of Commons Peter Milliken, Speaker of Senate Noel A Kinsella and Indian High Commissioner to Canada S M Gavai were presented the Baton. "The baton''s journey symbolises the unity and shared ideals of the Commonwealth of Nations, and enables communities beyond the Host City to share the Games celebrations," Harper said on the occasion. Chairman of the Media Committee of the Organising Committee Commonwealth Games 2010, Tarlochan Singh briefed the Prime Minister about the arrangements made by the Indian government for efficient conduct of the games. The speakers of both houses of Parliament hosted lunch in honour of the Indian delegation, consisting of members of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Organising Committee of Commonwealth Games. Accepting the Baton, Gavai said it represents the common heritage shared by Commonwealth countries. More than 10 prominent leaders and a large number of Indo-Canadian communities took part in the relay and took the baton around the Parliament Hill in presence of a large number of Canadians and Indo-Canadians. The Queen''s Relay Baton gold plated and weighs about 1,900 grams or roughly two kilograms, with its skin made of soils from all 28 states in India which were laminated onto the baton. A special feature is that it has been pre-programmed to change colours to adjust to the country it is visiting. So when it arrived in Belize the colours changed to red, blue, and white. The Queen''s Baton Relay - which is the Commonwealth Games equivalent of the Olympic torch relay, came through Toronto yesterday and it brought out some of the athletes preparing to compete for Canada in India. The baton, which contains a message from the Queen, is doing a 190,000 kilometre tour through the 71 nations and territories comprising the Commonwealth of Nations. 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 Game, the tradition grows in scale and significance, including more nations, involving more participants and generating more excitement, 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, according to Mukesh Gupta, a noted advisor. .

Source: Web Search