Queen's Baton Relay arrives in Guwahati

Braving inclement weather, the residents of Guwahati turned out in large number to receive the Queen's Baton, on the country-wide relay of the 2010 Commonwealth Games at Delhi.

The Baton, arrived at Guhawati this afternoon, and was received ceremonially by Assam Olympic Association general secretary and forest minister Rockybul Hussain at a brief function held at the Nehru Stadium here.

The Baton was then handed over to the state chief secretary NK Das and director general of police Shankar Barua who in turn handed it over to several veteran and present international and national players from the state before it was carried in a convoy to the state secretariat at Dispur.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi received the Baton at the state secretariat, and after a brief felicitation of players from the state, the baton was handed over to Arjuna awardee table tennis player Monalisa Barua Mehta.

Mehta resumed the last leg of the rally here to the Srimanata Sankardeva Kalakshetra, the premier cultural hub of region, and was joined by Assam Director of Sports and Youth Welfare Sanjiv Gohain Boruah and Sports Authority of India's North East Director Subhas Basumatary enroute.

A colourful cultural function and fireworks display were held at Kalakshetra before the Baton was handed over by Assam sports minister Bharat Narah to the Chef de Mission of the Indian Commonwealth team, Rajya Sabha MP Bhubaneswar Kalita and Baton Relay director Colonel Kuldip Singh for its onward journey to the Meghalaya capital Shillong.