Queen's Baton Relay (XIX Commonwealth Game)FDC from India

FDC Name.Queen's Baton Relay

Issue Date:25th JUN'2010

Details:The Queen's Baton Relay, similar to the Olympic Torch Relay, is a relay around the world held prior to the beginning of the Commonwealth Games. The Baton carries a message from the Head of the Commonwealth, currently Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Relay traditionally begins at Buckingham Palace in London as a part of the city's Commonwealth Day festivities. The Queen entrusts the baton to the first relay runner. At the Opening Ceremony of the Games, the final relay runner hands the baton back to the Queen or her representative, who reads the message aloud to officially open the Games.MORE DETAILS

• India is all set to welcome here the Queen's Baton Relay for the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi that will enter Punjab from Pakistan Friday morning.After crossing the Attari border, some 30 km from the Sikh holy city Amritsar, Pakistan Olympics Association president Syed Arif Hassan will hand over the baton to his Indian counterpart Suresh Kalmadi, who also heads the organising committee of the Commonwealth Games
• The baton, with a message from the Queen inscribed on it, will be handed over to Olympics bronze medallist Vijender Singh and women world boxing champion Mary Kom to start the Indian leg of the relay, Sidhu said
• In India, the baton will cover most states and union territories, travelling a distance of over 20,000 km, before finally reaching New Delhi Sep 30. 
• The baton for the Delhi Commonwealth Games was launched by Queen Elizabeth II from Buckingham Palace in London Oct 29 in the presence of Indian president Pratibha Patil. 
• India's only individual gold medal winner in the Olympics, shooter Abhinav Bindra, was the first baton-bearer of the longest baton relay for any Commonwealth Games.  
• The Baton has been designed by Michael Foley, a graduate of the National Institute of Design. It is  a triangular section of aluminum twisted into a helix shape and then coated with coloured soils  collected from all regions of India. The Coloured soils are a first for the styling of a Queen’s  Baton. A jewel encrusted box has been used to house the Queen’s message, which was laser-engraved  onto a miniature 18 carat gold leaf-representative of the ancient Indian Patras. The Queen’s baton is economically contoured for ease of use. It is 664MM high, 34MM wide at base, and 86MM wide at  the top and weighs 1,900 grams.
• The Queen’s baton has a number of technological features including:

1.  The ability to capture images and sound
2. Global positioning system (GPS) technology so the baton’s location can be tracked.
3. Embedded light emitting diodes(LEDs) which will change into the colours of a country’s flag whilstin that country.
4. A text messaging capability so that people can send messages of congratulations and encouragements  to the Baton bearers throughout the relay

Remark:Nice FDC with stamps INR 20+5 .The FDC posted on the issue date by speed post and Registered post by my friend from Cuttack & BBSR,Thanks to them for such nice real posted FDC.The miniature sheet is so big it does not fit on the issued FDC.India post should issued larger FDC to fit such M/s or else the m/s should be small to fit as it is done by some other countries.