BATON TOUR: Shera, a Royal Bengal Tiger and mascot for the 2010 Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi, India, holds the baton for the Games during its stop in Trinidad and Tobago at yesterday's media briefing at the Indian High Commission, Victoria Avenue, Port of Spain. The technologically impressive baton was specially-crafted and is equipped with camera, audio recorder, LED lights that can be changed to suit the flag of the country it is in, and can even receive SMS messages. The baton will tour Trinidad today, starting with Point Fortin, and Tobago tomorrow, where it will visit Scarborough and Bon Accord Primary School among other places.

Trinidad and Tobago is the latest stop for the baton of the 19th Commonwealth Games, which takes place in New Delhi, India from October 3-14.

T&T are one of the 71 countries the baton will visit in its 240-day trek among Commonwealth states, before landing in India in July, where it will travel for the final 100 days before the Games run off.

Team T&T will comprise around 150 members, T&T Olympic Committee (T&TOC) and T&T Commonwealth Association (T&TCGA) president Larry Romany revealed yesterday.

These include T&T’s men’s and women’s hockey teams, the national volleyball women and, for the first time, an archery team.

T&T Hockey Board public relations officer Annette Knott will be chef de mission for the 2010 Games.

’We expect to put forward a very good performance when we get to Delhi,’ Romany said yesterday during the press briefing for the event at the Indian High Commission on Victoria Avenue, Port of Spain.

In keeping with India’s renowned thrust towards technology, the baton is an impressive object.

It is a ’much more elaborate contraption’ than the last one, according to John Hoskins, vice-president of the Commonwealth Games Federation.

That would be an accurate description for a device that includes video camera, audio recorder, LED lighting systems which can be changed to suit colours of the flag of the country it is in, and it can also receive SMS text messages.

The 1.9 kg, 66.4 centimetre baton also includes GPS.

The baton also contains Indian soil, laminated onto the shaft. This represents the ’soul of India,’ said Indian High Commissioner Malay Mishra.

The High Commissioner assured that all facilities and other areas of the Games will be ready for the October 3 start, despite earlier concerns over some previously ’behind schedule’ programmes.

The baton will tour Trinidad today, starting at Point Fortin, where the T&TCGA have a youth programme, and will also travel to Port of Spain.

Tomorrow it will make the trip to Tobago, for a visit to the Bon Accord Primary School, before touring Scarborough and other parts of the sister isle.

The baton will leave T&T on Thursday and move up the Caribbean on its trip around the Commonwealth.

Source: www.trinidadexpress.com - Kern Defreitas