The Hindu : Sport : Queen's Baton Relay draws big crowd

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Monday, Aug 02, 2010
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Sport - Sports : General

Queen's Baton Relay draws big crowd

KOLKATA: The Queen's Baton Relay for the XIX Commonwealth Games concluded its ceremonial 8km round of the city on Sunday after West Bengal governor M.K. Narayanan flagged it off in the presence of a host of past and present sportspersons including former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly and Baichung Bhutia.

The relay, which got off from the North gate of the famous Victoria Memorial, went around the stipulated distance in a 90-minute tour. It ended at the Bodyguard Lines in Alipore where a cultural programme was held to mark the occasion.

A large number of people lined up the roads with school children waving flags under a clear sky.

The Baton arrived at the starting point half an hour late. After the National anthem, the governor began the relay by handing the Baton over to sportspersons.

Earlier, the Baton arrived from Agartala, capital of Tripura, an hour behind schedule at the airport. India football captain Bhutia, Olympian Soma Biswas, Bangkok Asian Games double gold medallist Jyotirmoyee Sikdar and football star of yesteryears T. Balaram received the Baton from sports minister, Kanti Ganguly, and Bengal Olympic Association president, P.N. Mukherjee.

After a day's stopover here, the Baton would head to district towns of Burdwan, Durgapur and Asansol before reaching Dhanbad in Jharkhand on August 4 where the president of the Jharkhand Olympic Association would receive the Baton from his Bengal counterpart. — Special Correspondent

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