C'Wealth Games build-up: Queen's Baton Relay arrives, 1250 check in amid 2 pullouts

The buzz surrounding the Commonwealth Games began to increase with the arrival of the Queen's Baton Relay as around 1250 athletes and officials also checked in for the mega-event, which is just three days away from being declared open.

The final countdown to the Games began with the baton arriving at the organising committee headquarters to a jubilant reception with hordes of volunteers lustily cheering as the baton carrying the queen's message made its entry into the premises.

The baton commenced its over 1,90,000km journey at the Buckingham Palace in London on October 29 last year and moved on to visit 70 Commonwealth nations and territories across six regions of the globe.

It entered India from Pakistan through the Wagah Border in Punjab on June 25 this year and travelled across the country undertaking a 100-day journey.

Over the next two days, it will visit some of Delhi's prominent locations including Vijay Chowk, India Gate, the Red Fort, Qutub Minar, Lotus Temple and Raj Ghat among others.

Even as the beautification drive in Delhi gained momentum for the big day, the organisers had to contend with the pullout of the Australian duo of defending discus throw champion Scott Martin sprint-hurdler Hayley Butler.

While Martin is down with a pectoral muscle injury, Butler is nursing a calf muscle problem.

On a day when it was announced that International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge would be attending the opening ceremony on Sunday, around 1250 athletes and officials arrived to take the total number of competitors past 5500 in the three days before the start of the mega-event.

With 7200 athletes expected to take part in the Games, more than two-thirds have reached the Indian capital.

After weeks of negative press, the mood began to turn positive with visiting athletes expressing satisfaction with the improvements at the Games Village, which had been at the center of a row over cleanliness just a few days ago.

In fact, Delhi's Lt governer Tejinder Khanna even went to the extent of saying that the Village was good enough to host an Olympics.

"The Games Village that we have is the finest ever and is ready to host the Olympics or any other multi-discipline world class meet. I am not the only one saying this. Many foreign delegates during their visit were so impressed with our facility that they have told me that we should bid for Olympics now," Khanna said.

There was more talk of bringing the biggest sporting show to India from Kalmadi himself despite being heavily criticised for the crisis-hit build-up to the Commonwealth Games.

"The biggest legacy (of CWG) is Olympics. Cricket is the most popular sport in our country but it is played by just 10 countries. Olympics has all sports. We have to ensure that Olympics come up. This is our opportunity and CWG will help," Kalmadi said.

Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni joined the chorus of good wishes for the Games, saying that while his men slog it out in a two-Test series against Australia, they will have one eye on the how their counterparts in other sports do at the event.

"I can personally tell you that myself and most of the cricketers in our team will keep an eye on India's performance in the Commonwealth Games," Dhoni said in Mohali where India take on Australia in the opening Test from tomorrow.

"All I know is that it's a big event and I expect India to win more medals than the last edition," he added.

With the mood brightening up, there was more good news with England's 124-member team comprising of participants from swimming and other disciplines landing in the capital.

The Papua New Guinea's contingent was the second largest with 119 athletes, followed by New Zealand from where 94 athletes checked in for the Games.

The Australian contingent of 87 members who arrived today have participants in hockey, tennis, squash, wrestling and boxing.

Among the other large teams arriving today were those of Canada (79), Mauritius (75), Bangladesh (59), Wales (42) and Malaysia (39).

Apart from these, officials and athletes from Sierra Leone, Kiribati, Singapore, Cayman Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, South Africa, British Virgin Islands, Isle of Man, Canada, St Vincent and The Grenadines and Lesotho also arrived today.