DELHI: With 183 days until the start, the Queen’s Baton for the 2018 Commonwealth Games arrived in Delhi on Tuesday, after completing its first Asian country visit in Pakistan a day ago.
Its first official outing in India will be in Agra on Wednesday, followed by Uttarakhand on Thursday and Friday, and then to Delhi on Sunday, before it leaves for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
The baton travels over 2,30,000km for 388 days to all 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth. So far, it was in transit in Africa, Caribbean, America and Europe.
The baton is in the penultimate leg of its journey, and will arrive in Australia on Christmas eve. It will arrive in Gold Coast — at the Carrara Stadium — on April 4 for the opening ceremony. This is the first time that the CWG will be held in the Australian city.
“The back of the baton is made from macadamia, which is indigenous to the Gold Coast region. There is a cultural and indigenous significance,” explained Queen’s Baton Relay media liaison Keri Algar.
“The middle section is a stainless steel stringer. It also has the three-digit alpha codes of every Commonwealth nation in sequential order.”
The front of the baton is white, and has been made from reclaimed plastic sourced from waterbodies near Gold Coast's beaches.
The baton sports a loop-like shape, and the light emitted from its middle keeps changing colour.
Paralympic silver-medallist Deepa Malik was the first Indian sportsperson to hold the baton when it landed in New Delhi.