The President of India, Mrs.

Pratibha Patil has accepted the Queen of England's

invitation to grace the Queen s Baton Relay 2010 Delhi s launch ceremony for XIX Com
monwealth Games 2010 Delhi. Abhinav Bindra will receive the Queen s Baton 2010 Del
hi from the Queen as the first batonbearer. The Queen s Baton Relay is a tradition
of the Commonwealth Games and acts as a curtain raiser to every Commonwealth Ga
mes since 1958. The Queen`s Baton 2010 Delhi will take 240 days to complete the
epic journey to all other member nations and territories of the Commonwealth. Du
ring this time it will cover a distance of more than 170,000 kilometres, and whi
lst on its 100 day national tour, the baton will visit every Indian state and it
s capital, plus many other cities along the way, covering in excess of 20,000 ki
lometres. This will make the Queen s Baton Relay 2010 Delhi national sector twice
as long as the Manchester and Melbourne relays which lasted 50 days each. On arr
ival at the opening ceremony, the Queen`s Baton 2010 Delhi will have travelled i
n excess of 190,000 kilometres over a period of 340 days; this will make the Que
en s Baton Relay 2010 Delhi one of the longest relays in the history of the Common
wealth Games. The Queen s Baton Relay 2010 Delhi will conclude with the final bato
nbearer entering the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium during the Opening Ceremony of the
XIX Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi on 3 October 2010.
Common Wealth Games are organised by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), a
union of around 70 countries lying in the major continents: Asia, Africa, Ameri
ca, Europe, Carribean and Oceania. The CGF was formed in the year 1930 by Bobby
Robbinson with a firm will of promoting and celebrating an atmosphere of unique,
friendly, world class Games in these member countries and also strengthening th
e harmonious mutual relations between the Commonwealth countries. The three foun
dation principles of the Common Wealth Games Federation are: Humanity, Equality
and Destiny! These are the parameters held responsible by the Commonwealth Games
Federation for every momentous decision taken within the federation.
To improve the standard of living of the residents and the societal norms; the C
ommonwealth Games Federation is also a staunch supporter of education and awaren
ess via sports and recreation. The distinguishing feature of the Common Wealth G
ames is, its formation based on history, as compared to the geographic and clima
tic factors responsible for the formation of other world sport associations. It
also bags the honour of being the only Games Federation that has a common langua
ge for conversation i.e. English. For this reason, the Commonwealth Games have a
lso been coined as "Friendly Games", and thus; have been a source of inspiration
amongst the Youth of the Commonwealth Nations, to excel in games and sports.

After its conception in 1930, the Commonwealth Games were known as the British E
mpire Games, followed by other titles like the British Empire and British Common
Wealth Games. In 1978, the Commonwealth member nations took a unanimous decisio
n to call them "The Commonwealth Games". The first Common Wealth Games (1930) we
re held in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Since then, the Common Wealth Games are he
ld in every four years except in 1942 and 1946 due to World War II. Conducted in
many other Commonwealth Nations like London, Sydney, Aukland and Kuala Lumpur;
the latest Commonwealth Games were organised at Manchester, London in 2002.
The last or recent Commonwealth Games were conducted between 15-26 March 2006; i
n Melbourne, Australia, the capital of Victioria state and the second largest ci
ty of the Kangaru Continent. India will also be hosting the Common Wealth Games
for the first time and Asia for the second time; in 2010, in Delhi, the capital
city of India. The sports that will comprise of these Common Wealth Games are Cy
cling, Netball, Rugby, Weightlifting, Shooting, Squash, Table Tennis, Aquatics,
Athletics, Gymnastics, Hockey, Badminton, Basketball, Bowls, Boxing and Triathlo
n.