Queen launches 2010 Commonwealth Games countdown

The Queen and Indian President Pratibha Patil started the countdown to the New Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games as they launched the global baton relay Thursday at Buckingham Palace.

The Queen's Baton Relay, one of the great traditions of the Commonwealth Games, will travel 170,000 km and pass through 70 Commonwealth nations before reaching India for the Games starting Oct 3 next year.

The Queen and Indian President Pratibha Patil started the countdown to the New Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games as they launched the global baton relay Thursday at Buckingham Palace.British and Indian sports stars carried the baton through central London on the start of its journey to the Indian capital.

The baton contains a message for the athletes from Queen Elizabeth, the head of the Commonwealth. It will travel through some 70 countries before reaching the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium for the start of the Games on October 3 next year, when the message will be read aloud, officially opening the event.

In a ceremony at the monarch's official residence, the sovereign placed her message, contained in a jewellery box, inside the baton and handed it to Patil. World 10-metre air rifle champion Abhinav Bindra, who in Beijing last year became the first Indian to win an individual Olympic gold medal, began the relay, carrying the baton out of the palace gates.

Double Olympic 1,500 metres champion Lord Sebastian Coe, the chairman of the London 2012 Olympic Games, then ran with the baton, passing it on to India's 1983 World Cup-winning cricket captain Kapil Dev. Indian tennis number one Sania Mirza carried it next. Monty Panesar, the first Sikh cricketer to play for England, and former British middle-distance runner Kelly Holmes were also due to take the baton.

"Excitement is now building towards the Games in Delhi next year and the Queen's Baton Relay is one of the longest standing traditions of the Commonwealth Games," said Holmes, who won two golds at the 2004 Athens Olympics. "The baton's journey symbolises the unity and shared ideals of the Commonwealth nations."

The baton will capture sound and images as it travels through the Commonwealth and its progress can be followed on the Games website. Its lights change colours according to which country it is passing through.While in England, the baton will appear at the England versus Australia rugby union match at Twickenham in London on November 7.

The baton will then proceed to travel through all the Commonwealth nations, a journey that will cover 190,000 kilometres in 336 days -- one of the longest relays in the Games' history. The baton will visit every state in India during its 100-day tour of the republic.

The Queen's Baton Relay has launched the build-up to every Commonwealth Games since the Cardiff 1958 event. It symbolises the gathering of people from across the Commonwealth at the four-yearly event. The relay traditionally begins at Buckingham Palace and concludes at the opening ceremony, with the final relay runner handing the baton back to the queen or her representative for the message to be read aloud. At that moment, the Games begin.

Patil has invited Queen Elizabeth, 83, to visit New Delhi next year for the Games. The president, 74, was on the final day of a three-day state visit to Britain. Established in 1926 and reformed in 1949, the Commonwealth of Nations is a successor to the British Empire and brings together some 53 widely diverse states -- around a third of the world's countries and a quarter of its population.

“Launch of Commonwealth Games City Forests”

New Delhi: The Organising Committee Commonwealth Games Delhi 2010 (OC CWG Delhi 2010) is cognizant of the impact that big sporting events have on the environment and to combat such adverse impact, the OC CWG Delhi 2010 is undertaking focused efforts in Prioritizing Environmental Issues and Concerns while planning and delivery of the Games.

The OC CWG Delhi 2010 plans to leverage the platform of the Queen’s Baton Relay 2010 Delhi to spread the message of sustainability and environment. In this context, the OC CWG Delhi 2010 has initiated a plantation drive with Department of Environment (DoE), GNCTD, which has been kicked off at Aaya Nagar city forest today. This initiative will be followed by plantations across the 5 other city forests identified by DoE for the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi.

The key highlights of the event in Delhi included the following:

1. Inauguration of the Commonwealth Games City Forest by Mr. P K Tripathi, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr. Ramesh Kumar, MP and Mr. Balram Kumar, area MLA at 4:30 pm at Aaya Nagar where about 3,000 saplings were planted. Mr D M Shukla, Conservator of Forest and Mr Dharmendra, Secretary, DOE, were also present on the occasion.

2. Participants present at the plantation drive consisted of student volunteers from Eco-Clubs schools & colleges of Delhi, members of Delhi Government, Forest Department and Organising Committee Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi.

The Sustainability and Environment Functional Area of the OC CWG Delhi 2010 has adopted a Green Games vision to “Strive towards reducing carbon and consumption footprint of the Games and become the benchmark for all multi-disciplinary games in the future”.

The OC CWG Delhi 2010 has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and has been working closely with them to explore possible areas of engagements to further enhance the sustainability status of the Games at a global level.

The plantation drive that has been launched today, is a step towards offsetting the carbon footprint generated in the course of Delhi 2010, eventually moving towards “Climate Neutral” status for the Games with strategic greening targets and objectives.

Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010

Between 3 October and 14 October 2010

The 2010 Commonwealth Games are going to be held in Delhi, India with a population of over 15 million, compared to (2006 games hosts) Melbourne's 3.7 million and Greater Manchester's 2.5 million population at the 2002 games.

The Commonwealth Games is a multi-sport event held every four years involving the elite athletes of the Commonwealth of Nations. The first such event, then known as the British Empire Games, was held in 1930. The name changed to British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, to British Commonwealth Games in 1978 and assumed the current name of the Commonwealth Games in 1978.

As well as many Olympic sports, the Games also include some sports that are played mainly in Commonwealth countries, such as lawn bowls, rugby sevens and netball. There are currently 53 Commonwealth nations and 71 participating teams.

Attendance at the Commonwealth Games is typically around 5,000 athletes, which makes it one of the largest international sporting events in terms of participants.

The four constituent countries of the United Kingdom—England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland—send separate teams to the Commonwealth Games, and individual teams are also sent from the British Crown Dependencies—Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man—and many of the British overseas territories.

Brief :

The 17 sports to feature in the XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi will be held at six venue clusters and five stand alone venues in Delhi. Ceremonies, Athletics, Lawn Bowls and Weightlifting will be held at Cluster I: Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex; Cycling, Gymnastics and Wrestling at Cluster II: Indira Gandhi Sports Complex; Archery (Qualification Rounds) and Table Tennis at Cluster III: Yamuna Sports Complex; Badminton and Squash at Cluster IV: Siri Fort Sports Complex; Hockey and Archery Finals (India Gate) at Cluster V: MDC National Stadium Complex; and Swimming and Boxing at Cluster VI: Talkatora Garden Complex.

Twenty-six new training venues are being constructed for the Delhi 2010 for different sports. Work has been initiated on all the training venues and is progressing satisfactorily. Apart from this, 16 training venues are being upgraded and will be ready on schedule.

These are the following venues:

1.Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Complex

2.Thyagaraj Sports Complex

3.Indira Gandhi Sports Complex

4.Dr. S.P. Mukherjee Swimming Stadium

5.Talkatora Indoor Stadium

6.Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium

7.Siri Fort Sports Complex

8.Dr. Karni Singh Shooting Range

9.R.K. Khanna Tennis Complex

10.Yamuna Sports Complex

NonCompetition Venues

OC CWG DELHI 2010 HEADQUARTERS :

The OC CWG Delhi 2010 is located i n the iconic New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) building, opposite Jantar Mantar, Connaught Place, New Delhi. The office is spread over nine floors with a capacity to accommodate a workforce of over 1,200. Its effective structural design, modern facilities, accessibility from all parts of Delhi, multi-level parking space and 24-hour power backup make it a state-of-the-art workspace.

Main Media Centre:

Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi`s state-of-the-art Main Media Centre (MMC), which will comprise the International Broadcasting Centre (IBC) and the Main Press Centre (MPC), will be set up in close proximity to the Games Village and the main venues at Pragati Maidan.

Games Family Hotel - Hotel Ashok:

Hotel Ashok, in New Delhi, has been officially recognised as the Games Family Hotel. On 4 June 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between OC CWG Delhi 2010 and India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) in this regard. Hotel Ashok offers 500 rooms and as the flagship family hotel, it will serve as host to members of CGAs, the CGF, International Sports Federations, Technical Delegates and the IOA.