The Queen's Baton Relay was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the city to organise a grand sports event

CWG's Baton Relay, a flat affair

The Queen's Baton Relay was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the city to organise a grand sports event.

But it turned out to be a damp squib. It was expected to be a huge event -- large crowds and music playing in the background. What turned out was quite the opposite.

Only one troop of dancers performed Lezim, a Maharashtrian folk dance, but that too did not cause a buzz. "Other performers danced even before the Baton had arrived at the Gateway of India and they went unnoticed," informed former athlete Adille Sumariwalla.

Spectators were not allowed to come anywhere close to the stage which made the whole event a very
private affair.

It seemed more like a presentation to the media than to Mumbaikars.

No big names
The absence of top sports personalities was another factor which contributed to the flat affair.

The aam janta failed to recognise the likes of chess Grandmaster Pravin Thipsay, former hockey Olympian MM Somaiya when they ran with the Queen's Baton up to Flora Fountain.

The presence of a few cricketers could have added some jazz, but they chose to give the event a miss. "We had invited cricketers like Dilip Vengsarkar, Ajit Wadekar, Prof Ratnakar Shetty (Board of Control for Cricket in India Chief Administrative Officer) and a few others well in advance, but they did not show up," Deputy Director of Sports and Youth Affairs, Mumbai division, NB Mote told MiD DAY.

Ministers first
As usual, our ministers occupied the front row on the stage while the sportspersons waited in the sun. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan met the sportspersons only after his fellow politicians ended their speeches. Deputy Chief Minister Chaggan Bhujbal said, "There might have been au00a0 little lack of enthusiasm as it is a festive weekend with Ganesh Chaturthi and Ramzan. Besides, schools and colleges had a holiday." When asked if it was failure of the state government to organise a decent event, Bhujbal said, "I have not organised it,u00a0 so I would not like to comment."