Organisers vow to hold QBR in ‘befitting manner’

KARACHI: A meeting of the organising committee of Queen’s Baton Relay (QBR) relating to Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games was held on Wednesday at the Olympic House in Lahore. The POA vice-president Shauket Javed chaired the meeting.

“In the meeting, the importance of QBR was highlighted and Javed assured the house that this programme will befittingly be organised based on the experience of the last two events of QBR held in Lahore,” a press release of the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) said on Wednesday.

It added that coordination between concerned departments would be ensured and the QBR programme will most probably take place on October 1 and 2, 2017 in view of Ashura, the POA said.

Secretary General of POA Khalid Mehmood highlighted the salient features of the programme through his presentation. After thorough discussion, it was decided that the POA secretariat shall be responsible for overall coordination, event arrangements shall be supervised by various sub-committees as assigned and district management and police department will provide security from arrival to departure of the QBR team as well as events to be taken place.

Punjab Chief Minister will be requested to grace the occasion at the Badshahi mosque, while Governor Punjab will be invited to the evening ceremony of QBR at DHA Alpha Campus City School, Lahore.

The journey of QBR started in March and after passing through all commonwealth nations it will be brought in April to Gold Coast, Australia, which will host the Commonwealth Games slated to be held there from April 4-15.