The Queen’s Baton Relay for the XIX Commonwealth Games scheduled for Delhi, India in October arrives in Guyana with a six-man Protocol team that includes Vice-President of the Commonwealth Games Committee (CGC) on Thursday.
President of the Guyana Olympic Association (GOA) K Juman-Yassin and Sport Minister Dr Frank Anthony reported this at a press conference held yesterday in the conference room of the Ministry’s Main Street office. They both reiterated, along with Vice-President of the GOA Dr Karen Pilgrim, that the event will showcase the hospitality of Guyanese and the diverse culture of Guyana.
At the briefing media operatives were told that the GOA and ministry started planning for this event about two months ago when the GOA got direct word from Organising Secretary of the CGC Subie Issac, who will also be apart of the six-man delegation, that that the Baton will be visiting the 71 Commonwealth countries. The first leg of the relay started on October 29 last from Buckingham Palace, England and will arrive for the opening ceremony in Delhi on October 3, 2010.
Minister Anthony said that the local committee has mapped a comprehensive route in the city on February 26 from 08:00 hours from Freedom House in Robb Street and then later for Berbice where a cyclist will take it from the Western end of the Berbice River Bridge to New Amsterdam. On the second day of the event the Baton will depart the Ogle International Airport for the Kaieteur Falls and then to Lethem.
Anthony noted that very rarely when such a spectacle visits Guyana that it gets to see the wonder of the hinterland and the way of the life of the natives there. He said that there will be celebrations by the native peoples for the camera that is embedded in the Baton.
President Bharrat Jagdeo, according to information coming out of the local organization committee, will lead off the event from State house in Robb Street and will hand over to Minister Anthony on Main Street. Subsequently, other influential public figures and athletes from sporting disciplines in the Commonwealth Games will according participate in the relay.
“What is important is that the persons receiving the batons will comprise of various officials and members of the sporting fraternity and other important persons in our society. We also have members of the opposition who are apart of this relay and we have chosen in and around Georgetown a number of historic sites for the baton to visit,” Anthony explained.
When the emblem goes to India on the June 25 the CGC will make a montage of all the sites and the 71 countries in the Commonwealth. The camera in the baton will provide the images and sounds for the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi website while the Global Positioning System (GPS) will allow persons to view the baton’s location on the website.
Juman-Yassin pointed out in his brief remarks, that since this is the second time the baton will be in Guyana, he hopes this time around the event will be better. He said that the baton also includes the message from Queen Elizabeth II and it will be read by the Queen or a representative when the games open on October 3.
Logistics Officer attached to the ministry Colonel Lyndon Ross said that he hopes persons come out and support the event. He was tasked with the responsibility of charting the course for the relay along with Pilgrim who stated that LOC wants to show that Guyana is the most beautiful country in the world with the most hospitable people and diverse scenes.
Meanwhile, the Queen’s Baton was created for a relay to commemorate the Cardiff 1958 Commonwealth Games in Wales. The Queen’s Baton for Delhi is a fusion of hand crafted elements interplayed with a precision engineered body, and ornamented with an intricate hand layered soil pattern.
The shape and design of the baton is created using a triangular section of aluminum which has been twisted in the form of a helix and then coated with a diverse range of coloured soils collected from all corners of India.
At the pinnacle of the Queen’s Baton 2010 Delhi is a precious jewellery box containing the Queen’s message to the athletes. The message has been symbolically engraved onto a miniature 18 carat gold leaf, representative of the ancient Indian ‘patras’ (a popular vegetarian dish in the state of Gujarat in the West region of India). Its main ingredient is the leaf of the Taro plant (Colocasia esculenta).
Modern laser technology known as micro calligraphy has been used for the first time to reproduce the Queen’s message in this method.
