Queen launches 2010 C'wealth Games countdown

Robin MILLARD

Queen Elizabeth II 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. LONDON, Friday (AFP)