A royal mess at Queen’s Baton relay

BANGALORE: The stars were overshadowed. The dais resembled a busy thoroughfare, with many unwanted travellers taking centre stage. There is only one way to describe the Bangalore leg of the Queen's Baton Relay run organised by the Dept of Youth Services Sports on Thursday: Chaotic.

Things were off to a bad start. Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who was to receive the baton, did not make it to the venue. Instead, Law Minister Suresh Kumar took his place.

Suresh Kumar, Sports Minister Gulihatti Shekhar and KOA president K Govindraj received the baton from Raj Kedyan, Director, QBR at the podium inside the stadium. The baton was brought in to the accompaniment of the traditional 'nadaswara'.

There were a host of unwanted personalities on the dais, so much so that the most important of them all, badminton legend Prakash Padukone and athletic legend Kenneth Powell, were pushed into the shadows.

As so soon as they were passed the baton from Suresh Kumar, and got onto the track, photographers and videographers in huge numbers made a dash for them. In trying to keep them away, a posse of policemen ran on the track beside them.

Prakash and Kenneth were barely visible to the sparse gathering of school children and the sporting fraternity in the stands.

"The experience was surely memorable. But the relay run could have been betterorganised. Nevertheless, the feeling was the same. It was truly an honour to receive the baton," said Padukone, the CWG badminton gold medal winner in 1978, and the only gold winner from the state.

Powell was more forthright in expressing his displeasure with the way the event was managed. "Jog? Well, we could barely walk. I think the arrangements should have been better. However, it was a truly memorable evening for me and brought back memories of many big events," said Powell, the 1964 Olympian.

With women athletes like Olympian Ashwini Nachapa, Rosa Kutty, Reeth Abraham and basketball internationals like Nandini Basappa, swimmer Nisha Millet around, it was surprising that a sportswoman was not chosen to run with Padukone and Powell.

After negotiating the media and and the police, Prakash and Kenneth trooped out of the stadium and handed the baton to other sports personalities who were allotted specific points on the 6km route in the city.

The baton was well received by people along the route. Many cheered the runners and shouted in support of the Games.

After passing the Rajaram Mohan Roy Road, Mission Road, Lalbagh Main Road, Passport Office, K H Road, Richmond Circle, Hudson Circle, Cubbon Park, Kasturba Road, Vidhana Soudha, High Court, Ganesha Temple, the baton was brought back to the stadium.

Sportsperson who were part of the relay are: Footballers T Shanmugham, Ethiraj, Arumainayagam, Sampath; M P Ganesh, Subaiah, Poonacha, Ashish Ballal, Elivra Britto, (all hockey); and others