Baton Relay of CYG reaches Gujarat

Ahmedabad, Aug 29 (UNI) The Baton Relay of the third Commonwealth Youth Games, Pune, 2008, which started on August 1 from the Delhi University campus to cover nine states, 199 cities, towns and villages over a distance of 8,500 km, before reaching Pune at the opening ceremony of the Games, reached Gujarat.

The relay entered Gujarat from Shamlaji and reached Himmatnagar last night.

With more than 7,500 volunteers, the Youth Baton Relay would visit several places, including Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Anand, Vadodara, Surat and Vapi during their week-long stay in the state. Later, on September 3 the group will enter Maharashtra from Vapi.

Speaking to mediapersons, captain R K Singh, who was heading the group of 87 baton-bearers. ''As part of the Green Games initiative the baton relay will collect water from every state en route to Pune. The collected water will be used at the opening ceremony of the Games to create a Fountain of Youth.'' ''A Garden of Youth will also be also created with the saplings brought in by the athletes from 71 participating nations,'' Singh asserted.

''The main objective of our 8,500-km journey is to spread the message of oneness of humanity and create interest among the people for sports and games,'' he said.

The Commonwealth Youth Games, 2008 kicks off in Pune from October 12.

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