By Duncan Mackay

Taj Mahal will provide a stunning backdrop for the Queen's Baton Relay when it visits India nextOctober 3 - A low-key ceremony will be held to celebrate the arrival of the Queen's Baton in New Delhi next week as part of the build-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but it will visit the Taj Mahal, the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced today following an emergency meeting.


There had been doubts over whether the Baton would be able to visit Delhi, host of the last Commonwealth Games in 2010, because Indian officials claimed that it clashed with celebrations for Dussehra, a Hindu festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil.

IOA officials have now promised that they will host an event but that prominent Indian sportsmen and women will not be given the opportunity to run with the Queen's Baton. 

"We will receive the Queen's Baton Relay at Indira Gandhi International Airport with all necessary due respect and honour," V K Malhotra, acting President of the IOA, told Indian news agency PTI following the meeting. 

"But we have decided not to have a relay where sportspersons will run for a few metres in turn holding the Baton.

"2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games authorities are not going to revise their schedule.

"So, we have decided to revise the programme and curtail it to some functions which would uphold the dignity of Queen's Baton Relay and the principles underlying the Commonwealth Games.

"The details of the revised programme will be decided in a day or two."

Indian officials claim that they cannot hold the Queen's Baton Relay in New Delhi on October 13 because it clahses with Hindu festival DussehraIndian officials claim that they cannot hold the Queen's Baton Relay in New Delhi on October 13 because it clahses with Hindu festival Dussehra

The decision is a blow to Scottish officials because India is the first international stop on the Baton's tour around the Commonwealth, a 190,000 kilometres 248-day worldwide tour before it arrives in Glasgow for the Opening Ceremony on July 23. 

The Queen's Baton Relay is due to be launched by the Queen at Buckingham Palace in London next Wednesday (October 9) before travelling to India. 

But, after its arrival on October 11, it will travel to Agra for a special ceremony the following day at the Taj Mahal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and probably the most recognisable symbol of India, before returning to New Delhi.

It is due to leave for Dhaka in Bangladesh on October 14. 

"We need tight security arrangements for such an important event like the Queen's Baton Relay and our country's name is at stake if we don't provide enough security for that," said Malhotra. 

"But, most of the security apparatus will be deployed for Dussehra festivals on October 12-13.

"So, we had to revise our programmes."

A spokesman for Glasgow 2014 told insidethegames: "The Glasgow 2014 Queen's Baton Relay offers all nations and territories of the Commonwealth the warmth and friendship of Scotland and is a symbol of the positive power of sport.

"We look forward to joining with the IOA, the British High Commission and our international partners UNICEF next week in delivering our jointly-planned programme which recognises Delhi and India as hosts of the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

"The Queen's Baton Relay is a complex 248-day international journey which celebrates Glasgow and Scotland as hosts of next summer's great Commonwealth festival of sport and culture and we look forward to having our first stop in India."

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