THE Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games baton has left Scotland for India on the first leg of its international tour.
The baton will travel about 120,000 miles across the globe and was sent on its way by the Queen at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday.
It arrived in Glasgow for a reception held by the Lord Provost before leaving yesterday with a delegation of organisers for Delhi, hosts of the last Commonwealth Games in 2010.
Scots pipers and Indian dancers performed at a ceremony at Glasgow Airport as the baton was waved off.
Louise Martin, secretary general of the Commonwealth Games Federation, carried the baton into the airport and will accompany it in the first few weeks of its tour.
She said she would not let it out of her sight as there was only one baton for the entire relay, unlike in the Olympics where hundreds of torches were used to carry the flame.
Ms Martin, who is also chairwoman of Sportscotland, said: "It certainly won't be in the hold, it's with us all the way and does not leave our sight. We cannot afford to have anything going wrong so we'll leave nothing to chance.
"When the baton goes into a country it belongs to the Commonwealth Games association of that country and they look after the baton and do what they want to do with it. But what we want is for as many people as possible to touch the baton so that when they see the opening ceremony next year they can say 'that was part of me, I've held that'.
"You can see how clean and clear the baton is just now, but when it comes back we want it to be slightly darker and shinier than that so that you can tell thousands of hands have carried it across the world."
The baton will visit every nation and territory of the Commonwealth, travelling through Asia, Oceania, Africa, North and South America, the Caribbean and Europe.
It will return to Scotland in June next year, where a secret message written by the Queen held within the baton will be read aloud at the opening ceremony at Celtic Park on July 23.
Some doubt was cast over the Indian leg of the tour after reports from the country suggested it was unable to host it due to the Hindu festival of Dussehra, but organisers dismissed any fears.
Ms Martin said: "We've been working with the Indians for two or three months now and it's their holiday time so they were hoping that we would be able to change.
"However, we can't change the route because it's set from day one and we have to follow it right through the Commonwealth, so if we lose one day it's a domino effect.
"They realised that and there were no problems. They reorganised some of their things so everything's fine and it will be a big party in Delhi."
One part of the relay has had to be withdrawn after Gambia announced its departure from the Commonwealth.
The west African nation will not participate in the Games and withdrew from the organisation, saying it would "never be a member of any neo-colonial institution".
The baton will spend an average of one to four days in each nation, with an extended duration of seven days in Wales, two weeks in England and 40 days in Scotland.
It will start in Edinburgh on June 14 and visit every local authority, arriving in Glasgow on July 20, three days before the opening ceremony.
The relay is a Commonwealth tradition that started in 1958, growing in size and scale with every Games.
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