Anguilla will be sending between 20 and 25 athletes and officials to the 19th Commonwealth Games scheduled for Delhi, India opening on October 3, according to the local Commonwealth Games Association.
Kenn Banks, president of the local association told reporters during a media briefing on Monday that the Anguilla delegation will comprise cyclists, track and field athletes and tennis players along with a small group of officials.
Banks said that the Indian organising committee has contributed US$100,000 to help the local body prepare its team to compete in the Games.
Anguilla is preparing for the arrival of the Queen’s Baton Relay, one of the great traditions of the Commonwealth Games. It symbolises the gathering of people from across the Commonwealth at a four yearly festival of sport and culture. The Queen’s Baton relays have been the curtain raiser to ecvery games since Cardiff, Wales, in 1958.
The baton contains the Queen’s message to the athletes. It will take 240 days to complete the epic journey to all 70 nations of the Commonwealth. The Queen’s baton is scheduled to arrive in Anguilla on March 25. On March 26, the baton will travel across the island stopping at all the schools on the island, the museum, parliament, beach, golf course and other scenic areas on Anguilla.
From Anguilla the baton will move on to Jamaica, the only Caribbean island to stage the Commonwealth Games in 1966. The latest global positioning system (GPS) technology housed within the baton allows its location to be viewed on the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi website.
Light emitting bodies embedded within the baton will transition into the colors of a country’s flag, whilst the baton is in the country.
Meanwhile, Cardigan Connor, Chef de Mission of the Anguilla team has just arrived from Delhi where he met and held talks with the Games’ officials about among other things security, travel and accommodation arrangements for the Anguilla delegation.
Connor told reporters during a media briefing held at the Governor’s office that he has been assured the everything is in place for the staging of the Games. The former Hampshire professional cricketer and coach of the national side said that the Indian officials will be providing round clock security for all the athletes and officials in Delhi.
He also said that the facilities for the staging of the major sporting sport are in good shape. After present at the press conference were Anguilla’s British Governor Alistair Harrison, Althea Hodge, secretary of the Anguilla Commonwealth Games Association and Rollins Richardson, Sports Development Officer in the Sports Department.
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