Kigali to host Queen’s Baton relay in 2014

KIGALI will host for the first time the Queen’s Baton relay on January 15, according to the organisers of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games.The baton will be arriving in the country from Kampala as it will be making its way across the continent for the Commonwealth member countries.It is expected to cover about 118,000 miles (190,000km) and will make history by becoming the first baton to visit Rwanda.The baton relay will be held the following day (January 16) before leaving for Dar es Salaam three days later.The first stop will be Delhi, which hosted the 2010 Commonwealth Games, and it will continue on through Asia, Oceania, Africa, North and South America, the Caribbean and Europe.The baton will eventually return to Scotland, making its way back to Glasgow for the opening ceremony of the Games on July 23, 2014.The United Kingdom’s Queen, as head of the Commonwealth, sends the baton on its way carrying a message inside it and will visit 71 nations and territories before returning to Scotland after an extensive tour.The Queen’s Baton Relay has been the Commonwealth Games’ curtain raiser since 1958. It will leave Buckingham Palace on 9 October 2013, then go on to Glasgow, before landing in India on 11 October.The baton will then make its journey from Delhi - which was the host of the 2010 Gamess-along a route detailed below.The relay will culminate in a 40-day tour of Scotland in the summer of 2014. The final relay runner hands the baton back to the Queen at the Game’s opening ceremony. Then the Queen reads aloud the hidden message and officially declares the Games open.Since the Queen’s Baton relay will be coming to the country with only five months left before the start of the Commonwealth Games in Scotland on July 23, 2014, it will be wake up call to all sporting associations in the country to be ready for the event.The 2014 Games will see 4,500 athletes compete for 261 medals in 17 sports, held in 14 venues around Glasgow and beyond.During the Commonwealth Games in India, Rwanda was represented by swimmers, athletes, boxers and Paralympics athletes.

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Kigali to host Queen’s Baton relay in 2014