Commonwealth Games 2022: India to host Queen’s Baton Relay in January

The Queen’s Baton Relay for the Commonwealth Games 2022 will be in India next year, the Games’ organising committee announced on Wednesday.

The Baton Relay is similar to the Olympic Torch relay but the baton is devoid of the symbolic fire and instead carries a message from the Queen of England.

The relay begins on October 7 at Buckingham Palace and will hit the Indian shores during its tour of the sub-continent.

“After three days in Pakistan, the Baton Relay will spend New Year’s Day in the Maldives, before visiting Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and spending four days in India between 12-15 January 2022,” the organisers said.

The 2022 Commonwealth Games will be held in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8.

In the run-up to the Games, the relay will be on road for 269 days, spending about two to four days in each nation or territory and will cover approximately 140,000 kilometres. The latest edition of the Baton Relay is expected to have over 7,500 baton bearers.

At Buckingham Palace, Queen Elizabeth II -- the Patron of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) -- will flagoff its journey by placing her message for the Commonwealth into the Baton, which will eventually be read at the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 CWG in Birmingham.

“The Birmingham 2022 Queen’s Baton Relay will visit all 72 nations and territories of the Commonwealth yet will travel almost half the distance than the previous Gold Coast Queen's Baton Relay in a bid to reduce the carbon footprint,” the organisers added.

The Baton relay will end at the Opening Ceremony of the 2022 Birmingham Games.