300 people join 2018 Commonwealth Games Baton Run

KUALA LUMPUR: About 300 people joined the 1.3km 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games (GC2018) Baton Run which took place at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil, here today.
The run which started at Dataran Keris involved five groups, including the national sports bodies, the Australian High Commissioner's delegation to Malaysia, and the previous medal winners and national athletes.
They included National Sports Institute (NSI) CEO, Dr Khairi Zawi, National Sports Council (NSC) director-general Datuk Ahmad Shapawi Ismail and representative of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), Datuk Dr M. Jegathesan.
Commonwealth Games Malaysia (CGAM) president Tan Sri Tunku Imran Tuanku Jaafar told a press conference that the baton run was special because of the Deepavali celebration tomorrow.
"This is one of the over 70 legs of the baton run and its been here many times before," he added.

Meanwhile, Australia's High Commissioner to Malaysia, Rod Smith is optimistic that the Malaysian contingent can give stiff competition based on the success of Kuala Lumpur SEA Games (KL2017).
"We know that Malaysia is a strong team because we saw how well the contingent performed in the 2017 SEA Games. They will be one of our tough competitors," he said.
After Malaysia, the baton equipped with Global Positioning System (GPS) which allows 24-hour tracking online, will depart for Brunei Darussalam.
The baton will travel 230,000km for 388 days through 70 Commonwealth countries before arriving in Australia where the message by Queen Elizabeth will be read during the official opening of CG2018 on April 4.
The 2018 Commonwealth Games will take place in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, from April 4–18. — Bernama