After facing plenty of criticism for pre-Games delays, Suresh Kalmadi and his Commonwealth Games Organising Committee are taking no chances when it comes to the two-lakh kilometre baton relay, which commences from Buckingham Palace on October 29.

Thus, instead of one, three high-tech, gold-plated, aluminium batons have just landed in London from Bangalore. “We will use one baton for the 70-nation relay but will also be carrying the spares from country to country in case there is some technical problem,” Kalmadi told The Indian Express.

The baton, or rather the batons, have been designed by Bangalore-based company, Foley Designs, with their electronic components manufactured to specifications by Titan Industries and Bharat Electronics Limited. The final design was approved by the OC a few months ago and the final product is being described as an “indigenous technological masterpiece”.

Location tracking

After high-tech tracking technology was used in the baton for the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games, the Indian OC has decided to do even better. The Bangalore batons have the latest Global Positioning System (GPS), which will help monitor their precise, real-time location on the 2010 Games website.

Besides, the batons have instruments to capture images and sounds of each of the Commonwealth countries/dependencies they traverse through — from Cameroon to St Helena, Cook Islands and Fiji. However, the most fascinating aspect is light-emitting diodes (LEDs) embedded in the batons — the colours will change to match the colours of national flags of the countries the relay is passing through.

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