Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games Queen’s Baton Relay arrives in India
The Queen’s Baton Relay is a ritual where a baton containing a message from the Queen of England moves around the 72 Commonwealth nations and territories.
The Queen’s Baton Relay for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham arrived in India on Monday.
Similar to the Olympic Torch Relay, the Queen’s Baton Relay is a tradition that is held ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Here, a baton containing a message from the Queen of England – the head of the Commonwealth – travels across all the Commonwealth nations and territories before making its way back to the host nation. This year’s CWG will be held in Birmingham, UK.
The CWG 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay began on October 7 last year at Buckingham Palace after Queen Elizabeth II placed her message to the Commonwealth, kicking off a 294-day relay across 72 nations and territories.
On Monday, Commonwealth Games officials handed the baton to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) officials at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi.
The baton will move around the national capital on October 12 before moving on to Bengaluru on January 14 and then Bhubaneswar on January 15.
The relay was scheduled to hit Ahmedabad on January 13 initially but it has been dropped from the itinerary due to COVID-19 concerns.
The Queen’s Baton Relay will move to Singapore on January 16 before going back to England in July. The Birmingham Games will then begin on July 28. Started in 1958, this is the 16th edition of the relay.
Following a record Olympics medal haul at Tokyo 2020, Indian athletes will look to carry forward the momentum at the Birmingham Games. In the 2018 CWG Games in Gold Coast, Australia, India finished third on the medals table with 66 medals – 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze.