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| Sunday, 26 May 2002 |
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Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe receives 'Queen's Baton'
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe officially received the 'Queen's Baton' which arrived at the Colombo International Airport from Singapore at the break of dawn yesterday (Saturday) in connection with the commonwealth Games to be held in Manchester England in July. The Queen will read the contains of the message on the 'Baton' at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. The motorcade brought the 'Baton' to Airport Garden Hotel and at Mahabage, there was a reception by the Navy. From Victoria Bridge upto Grandpass Junction four school bands led the motorcade where 'Relay Runners' took over. These 'runners' took the following route - Sirimavo Bandranaike Mawatha, Armour Street Junction, Sumanatissa Mawatha, Maradana Junction, Deans Road, Dharmapala Mawatha War Memorial, Ananda Coomaraswamy Mawatha, Horton Place, Budley Senanayake Mawatha, Castle Street, Sri Jayawardenapura Mawatha to Battaramulla. The 'runners' stopped at the War Memorial for one minute, while the last lap of the relay was by members of netball team. Then the "Baton" was handed over to the President of the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of Sri Sri Lanka, Hemasiri Fernando who in turn handed it over to British High Commissioner, Ms. Linda Duffield, Her Excellency then gave "The Baton" to Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, Johnston Fernando who in turn handed it over to Spaaker, Joseph Michael Perera. After a short ceremony at the Speaker's residence, where Hemasiri Fernando, Ms. Linda Duffield and Johnston Fernando addressed the gathering there was a cultural display by the Sri Lanka Navy's cultural troupe. There was a reception at the British High Commissioner's residence at McCarthy Road in the evening and "The Baton" was scheduled to leave for Sigiriya today (Sunday) where a ceremony is being arranged by the Sri Lanka Tourist Board tomorrow (Monday) and "The Baton" then will be taken to India on Tuesday. |
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