Zindabad!

Amritsar, June 25
The 100-day countdown for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games began yesterday when the Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) arrived in India from Pakistan through the historic Wagah-Attari border amid much fanfare here.
Pakistan Olympic Association president Lt Gen Syed Arif Hassan handed over the baton to the CWG Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi in no-man’s land in the presence of Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennell.

 IOA president Suresh Kalmadi carries the Queen’s baton for the Commonwealth Games 2010 at Wagah on Friday. Pakistani Punjab Governor Salman Taseer (left) and Shera, official mascot of the Games, flank him. — PTI


The Queen’s Baton Relay was launched by Queen Elizabeth II at the Buckingham Palace in London on October 29 last year in the presence of Indian President Pratibha Patil.
It will now pass through all the states and union territories before reaching its final destination, Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium — venue for the opening ceremony, on October 3.
Shera, the official mascot of the Commonwealth Games, entertained spectators, who also enjoyed performances by late Pakistani singer Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan’s nephew Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Wadali brothers. Folk dances, however, lacked the usual life and spirit even as the organisers tried their best to showcase Punjabi, Kashmiri, Himachali and Haryanvi cultures by coming out with dance performances.
Pakistani onlookers showed an equally warm response to the baton on the other side at Wagah where they were seen waving their hands to express their enthusiasm.
Kalmadi, flanked by Shera, received the baton amid loud cheers from the spectators of both the countries and passed it on to Fennell, who arrived here specially to attend the function.

 Suresh Kalmadi, centre, chairman of the Commonwealth Games organising committee takes the Queen's baton after it arrived in India from Pakistan at the checkpoint at Attari, about 30 km from the northern city of Amritsar. Raminder Pal Singh / EPA

Fennell handed it over to Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and then the baton, which is nearing the end of its 190,000-km journey covering 71 nations and territories across the world, passed over to 21 dignitaries, including Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

 Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil hands over the Queen’s baton for Commonwealth Games to CM Parkash Singh Badal at the Wagah border on Friday. — PTI


Badal virtually stole the show by saying that all they needed now was to request the Governments of India and Pakistan to open these gates. “We (India and Pakistan) are like brothers and for how long can two brothers keep their door shut to each other?” Recalling his graduation days in Lahore, Badal told the Punjab (Pakistan) Governor Suleman Taseer as to how passionately he still remembered drinking lassi at the Lahore Anarkali Bazar.
Taseer, too, echoed similar sentiments. He said it was an opportune moment to hand over the baton to India at a time when the Foreign Secretaries of both countries were holding parleys in Islamabad for the improvement of bilateral ties. “I am happy to see the people of both countries responding to the baton relay with the same degree of enthusiasm,” he said.
Later, MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and Mayor Shwait Malik received the baton at the Gen Sham Singh Attariwala memorial gate. Four-times world boxing champion Mary Kom and Olympic bronze medallist pugilist Vijender Singh jointly started the run with the baton from the international border to the city of Golden Temple.

Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Communication and IT Gurdas Kamat released a commemorative postage stamp on Commonwealth Games and handed it over to Kalmadi amidst slogans of “Pakistan Zindabad” and “India Zindabad”. - Tribune News Service

No boundaries in sports!

Attari, Amritsar:  India is all set to welcome the Queen's Baton Relay for the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi that will enter Punjab from Pakistan on Friday morning.
After crossing the Attari border, some 30 km from the Sikh holy city Amritsar, Pakistan Olympics Association president Syed Arif Hassan will hand over the baton to his Indian counterpart Suresh Kalmadi, who also heads the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games, at 9.25 a.m. Indian and Pakistani artistes will perform at an hour-long function at the border, Raja Sidhu, a key organiser, told IANS.
Mike Fennell, chairman of the Commonwealth Games Federation, will be the chief guest. The Commonwealth Games begin in the Indian capital Oct 3. It will be the country's biggest sports extravaganza after the 1982 Asian Games.
On hand to welcome the baton will be Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur, Congress leader Sachin Pilot and Commonwealth Games Chief Executive Officer Mike Hooper.
A commemorative postage stamp related to the relay will be released on the occasion.
The baton, with a message from the Queen inscribed on it, will be handed over to Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Singh and women world boxing champion Mary Kom to start the Indian leg of the relay, Sidhu said.
Thereafter, the Punjab leg would commence when Badal hands over the baton to prominent sportspersons of the state.
Amritsar MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and the mayor of Amritsar will receive the baton on the outskirts of the city. The baton will be placed for public display at the Company Bagh.
Navjot Sidhu told IANS: "This is a very important event for Amritsar. I urge the residents to come out in large numbers to extend a warm welcome to the baton."
The relay will proceed at 8 a.m Saturday to Jalandhar, Phillaur and then Ludhiana in Punjab. It will again go on public display at Patiala.
On Sunday, the relay will move to Hoshiarpur and Pathankot.
It will be handed over Monday to the state and Olympics authorities of Jammu and Kashmir.
In India, the baton will cover most states and union territories, travelling a distance of over 20,000 km, before finally reaching New Delhi Sep 30.
The baton for the Delhi Commonwealth Games was launched by Queen Elizabeth II from Buckingham Palace in London Oct 29 in the presence of Indian president Pratibha Patil.
India's only individual gold medal winner in the Olympics, shooter Abhinav Bindra, was the first baton-bearer of the longest baton relay for any Commonwealth Games. - INDO-ASIAN NEWS SERVICE - http://www.ndtv.com/

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/sports/india-all-set-for-queen-s-baton-relay-33573?cp

Sport surpasses all barriers

KARACHI – Indian Olympic Association President Suresh Kalmadi was frank in admitting that India clinched the honour of hosting the 2010 Commonwealth Games through Pakistan’s support and appreciated the role of its neighbour. Suresh Kalmadi was reported in a section of Indian media recently as saying that Pakistan supported India to get the Commonwealth Games which India cannot forget. When India and Canada were locked in a two-way battle for getting the hosting rights and Pakistan supported India in its bid, said Kalmadi.
In the meantime, Queens baton relay will arrive in India from Pakistan through Wagah Border on June 25 after finishing its Pakistan leg.
“The baton will arrive in India on June 25 and proceed to Amritsar via road on the same day in the evening. During its 100-day-long programme, the baton will pass through all the states and union territories before finally arriving in Delhi on September 30, three days prior to the start of the Games.
“The Baton will traverse through 400 cities and villages during its India tour and we have selected 5,000 baton bearers. A number of international athletes would be present to receive the Baton when it reaches their respective states,” Kalmadi said.
The national leg of around 20,000 kms in India will be twice the distance which was covered in the 2002 and 2006 Games in Manchester and Melbourne respectively.
Kalmadi said that purpose of the relay is to get the people involved and chance would be given to the masses to carry the baton when it reaches their respective state.
President India Ms Pratibha Patil had received the baton from Queen Elizabeth II in London on October 29 last year before it began its journey to New Delhi, traveling through 70 nations and territories of the Commonwealth, Indian media reported. - THE NATION

Rickshaw Jazz-up plans underway for Delhi CG

NEW DELHI: The humble cycle rickshaw could jazz up for the Commonwealth Games, complete with a driver-cum-tourist guide, newspapers and fruit juices. Around 1,000 battery-operated rickshaws will be on call during the event if a proposal with the Delhi government comes through.
"The proposal is that 1,000 battery- operated rickshaws should be run in the Commonwealth Games village and the rest of the capital during the Games," said Irfan Alam of the Bihar-based NGO Sammaan Foundation, which works for the uplift of rickshaw pullers and has mooted the idea.

"We are in talks with the Delhi government and other agencies about this project and hopefully things should come through in the next three months," Alam told IANS.
"Not only will these be eco-friendly modes of transport but also convenient, inexpensive and attractive thanks to the value additions that we have incorporated in the model."
An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), Alam started his NGO three years ago and designed a rickshaw model that was lighter in weight, had more leg and luggage space and also offered value- added services like newspapers, fruit juices and bottled water while on the move.
Since the Commonwealth Games are just four months away — Oct 3-14 — Alam said he has suggested that a modified model of these rickshaws be made operational during that period.
"The battery-operated rickshaws will offer the on-call service. There will be a customer care number where you can call to book a rickshaw. There will be a fare chart, so you will know exactly how much you have to pay for a particular distance. The fares will be nominal," Alam said.
"The rickshaws will also offer value-added services like free newspapers and you can even buy bottled water or juices while travelling. The rickshaw pullers will be trained to double up as tourist guides so that visitors can travel and learn more about the capital while on the move," he added.
"The Delhi government has been quite supportive and I am quite positive that this project will come through successfully. Maybe if things go well, these rickshaws can stay on even after the Games are over," Alam said.
Not just that. Alam — with help from some soap brands like Lifebuoy — also developed a sustainable business model by which rickshaw pullers, instead of taking their vehicles on rent, can take a loan from a bank and own a rickshaw over a period of time.
From just 300 rickshaws, the NGO today has 500,000 cycle rickshaws registered with it across the country — each with a number plate and the driver with an identity card. What's more, these offer passengers an accident insurance of up to Rs.1 lakh.
There are around 10 million cycle rickshaws operating in the country, but most of them don't have licences.
Alam was one of the 79 from across the globe who was invited by US President Barack Obama to present his business model at the two-day presidential summit on entrepreneurship in Washington in April.
Even as his model has intrigued audiences in universities abroad like Harvard and Stanford and found takers back home like the Madhya Pradesh government, Alam said the Delhi government too approached him for a "fitter connectivity" in the national capital.
"We are working with the Delhi government to introduce these eco-friendly, fitter modes of transport in the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor, to begin with, in the next few weeks. The idea is to then introduce these models across Delhi," Alam told IANS.
A similar plan is being drawn up by the Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI). According to its proposal submitted to the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games, 50 designer cycle rickshaws — with antique gramaphones and Bollywood themes — may ply in the 63.5 hectare Games village during the mega event.
This proposal too is under consideration.- THE ECONOMIC TIMES

Loyola FC from Manila, Champion!

This has been long overdue, but here it is.
Loyola FC from Manila emerged as the champions of the 2nd  Philippines-Malaysia Veterans 9s Soccer Championship held at the Panaad Stadium in Bacolod City, Philipines on May 29 and 30.
They defeated defending champion and host, Bacolod United FC, 2-1 in the final.

X-Mail Veterans FC last year's runners, failed to make the semifinals from Group A, where both the finalist emerged from. The other teams in Group A were Talisay Minuluan FC and Erco-Cebu FC.

In Group B were CMOFA, Real Negrese FC, Iloilo FC  and Blue Guards FC, Manila.
A total of nine teams competed as compared to in the inaugural year, when only four teams participated.
The competition was much competitive and many ex-national Philippines players played. Champion Loyola FC had five ex-Philippines national players in their team.
X-Mail, were handicapped from the start as injuries and several players pulling out of the trip, forced the team to recruit players from Philippines to make the team. Two key players who were injured but made the trip and were reduced to supporters were team captain Hasnul Ramlan Khairuddin and V. Kalimutu. The absence of these two key players were drastically felt by the team.
Five players from Philippines joined the X-Mail team goalkeeper Robert Choa, defender Alberto Salvacion, midfielder Eduardo Perez and Antonio Belmonte Bayona and striker Jesse Risalie S, Ricabo.
In the Group matches, X-Mail won one, lost two and one game had to be called off at halftime due to injuries to X-Mail players and could not raise the minimum seven players to restart the second-half.
X-Mail donated the challenge trophy and the replica trophy for the champion, courtesy of Datuk Seri Abdullah Hishan.
The 3rd Philippines-Malaysia Veteran Soccer tournament will be hosted by X-Mail next year in Kuala Lumpur in May.

 The X-Mail team with soccer players and teachers from Handumanan Elementary School after the presentation of Milo drinks and T-Shirts, Bata shoes, jerseys, balls and bags at the school hall.


X-Mail VFC also played a friendly match in Manila on June 1 at the Clark Base against the Clark International FC where it played to a 2-2 draw.
X-Mail VFC would like to take this opportunity to thank our sponsors and supporters, Nestle Malaysia, Bata Malaysia, Best Western Premier Sewri Pacific Hotel, Olympic Sports Hotel, Malaysian Nanban, Edures Resources, UKRC, National Sports Institute, WRL Advertising, Tourism Malaysia and all who had assisted us in one way or other, in making our trip possible.

Excellent World Cup Guide!

This is an brilliant 2010 World Cup guide to the daily fixtures!
It was discovered by my colleague, Priyanka Kaushik, at Press Operations of the 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee.
Follow the World Cup, your favourite team and have a ball!
This is the link:

 http://bit.ly/b08byX

MIA

No, I have not gone missing in action!
I had a ten-days break from my job in New Delhi with the 2010 Commonwealth Games Organising Committee to return home and also take the X-Mail Veteran team to the 2nd Philippines-Malaysia Veteran Soccer Festival (May 29 and 30th) and a friendly match at Clark base on June 1.
It turned out to be a hectic return that I hardly had time to update the blog.
Before I knew, I was back in New Delhi on Sunday night and back to work.
I will post on the update on the tournament in Bacolod City with pictures by tomorrow.
Keep a date!