With monsoon at its peak, the elaborate arrangements for the Queen's Baton Relay turned out to be a damp squib after it arrived at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose airport in Kolkata an hour behind schedule today.
Led by India football captain Bhaichung Bhutia, a boast of sportspersons including Olympian Soma Biswas, Asian Games
double gold medallist Jyotirmoyee Sikdar and yesteryear's
football star Tulsidas Balaram welcomed the Baton at the
airport.
Sports minister Kanti Ganguly, Bengal Olympic Association chief Paresh Nath Mukherjee and secretary Kamalesh Chatterjee
were also present at the airport to receive the Baton, which
arrived at Kolkata from Agartala.
Amidst heavy downpour, the Baton was then taken to the Bodyguard Lines in a lacklustre manner as there were no waving
of schoolchildren along the 15km route, as it was planned
earlier.
"Rains have shattered all our plans. We had planned to bring about 5,000 schoolchildren, waving flags along the route up to the Bodyguard Lines where the Baton will be kept. But the weather has played spoilsport," BOA Secretary Kamalesh
Chatterjee said.
From the Bodyguard Lines in Alipore, the Baton would be taken to the Victoria Memorial at around 3 pm where former India cricket captain Sourav Ganguly would join the celebration.
"We hope that the weather clears a bit so we can expect a crowd to gather when the Baton Relay begins from Victoria Memorial's North Gate at 3 pm," he said.
