Daily Times

LAHORE: A good number of leading sports personalities of the country including squash legend Jahangir Khan, hockey Olympians Islahuddin Siddiqui, Manzoor-ul Hasan Senior, Mohammad Usman attended an impressive ceremony held on Monday at Hazuri Bagh, Lahore Fort to welcome the Queen`s Baton Relay (QBR) of the Commonwealth Games 2018 which will be held in Gold Coast, Australia in April next year. The QBR had arrived in Lahore from Cyprus on Friday but was kept at a hotel due to Ashura.

The Baton Relay programme started from Greater Iqbal Park and was moved to Hazuri Bagh in which the Commonwealth Games medalists and Olympians exchanged baton from hand to hand to complete the relay. The President Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) Pakistan, Lt Gen (r) Syed Arif Hasan, who is also Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) President, was the primary spokesperson designate by Commonwealth Games Federation and welcomed the members of Queen’s Baton Relay Team from Australia, the Australian High Commissioner in Pakistan, the Sports Minister Punjab and all other guests present.

Arif informed the audience that Commonwealth was the home of 2.4 billion citizens and over 60 percent of these were under the age of 30. “The Commonwealth Games charter their recognised the importance of youth and advocates the use of sports in a manner, which links it to outcomes in youth development, help, education, gender equality and social cohesion,” he added. “The Commonwealth Games are the face of these policies and the Gold Coast Games has done a commendable job of ensuring these outcomes.” He appreciated the most innovative School Connect Programme where Schools of Gold Coast are connected with schools of other countries. Two branches of City School – DHA Alpha Campus and City School Islamabad – are connected to Tambourine High School and Clover Hill School respectively. This programme is a novel idea affording the children exchange information and make new friends which will go a long way in further promoting relations between Australia and Pakistan. Arif also introduced the medalists of Commonwealth Games of the past including Abdul Ghafoor, a weightlifter who is the youngest and most recent gold medalist of the Commonwealth Youth Games and Championship, wrestler Muhammad Inam and weightlifter Talha Talib. Later, the Australia’s High Commissioner in Pakistan, Ms Margaret Adamson, thanked the CGA Pakistan, the QBR Team, the athletes and the officials of Punjab Government for making excellent arrangements for the QBR Programme in a very congenial environment.

“I am pleased to welcome the arrival of the Gold Coast 2018 Queen’s Baton Relay to Pakistan and the historic city of Lahore. Our common love of sport is a powerful vehicle for building understanding between Australia and Pakistan, particularly among our youth. I encourage all to embrace the spirit of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and wish Team Pakistan the very best of luck for next April,” she said. While welcoming the QBR Team, Sports Minister Punjab Jahangir Khanzada, who was the chief guest, said the future belonged to the youth and they should use sports as the driving force since it had the power to change the world in many ways. “The youth is the most precious asset of every country,” said Jahangir. He was confident that the infrastructure facility that the province of Punjab was providing the youth would enable them to achieve excellence at the international level.

Besides Adamson, Arif and Khanzada, the others who attended the function included POA Secretary General Muhammad Khalid Mahmood,t Secretary Sports Punjab Nayyar Iqbal, POA Vice Presidents Kamran Lashari, Shaukat Javed, DG Sports Board Zulfiqar Ahmed Ghumman, and a number of children from the City School. The QBR with its accompanying four-member team left for India on Tuesday.

The QBR will be taken to all member countries before reaching Australia on December 25, and then start its final journey within the country and complete it in the next four months to reach the main stadium on April 4 to be lit to inaugurate the sports gala. It had started its journey from Buckingham Palace, London, the residence of Queen Elizabeth II of the UK, in March this year. The Queen was the first baton-bearer and she had put her message into the baton, which will be read out at the time of the opening of the Games on April 4. The baton will reach its final destination after completing a distance of 230,000 kilometres which will take around 388 days. It has to pass through five continents – Africa (18 countries), Asia (seven countries), Caribbean and America (13 countries), Europe (three) and Pacific (11).

Published in Daily Times, October 4^th 2017.