His Majesty King Letsie III officially launched the Queen’s Baton Relay upon its arrival from the Kingdom of Eswatini at the ceremony held at the Royal Palace in Maseru on Monday.
The Relay had arrived in the country on Sunday from Eswatini where it was received by His Majesty King Mswati III at the Royal Palace in Eswatini.
According to the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) Administrator, Mr. Pulumo Nchakha, His Majesty King Letsie III handed over the Baton to the Prime Minister. Dr Moeketsi Majoro, who in turn gave it to the Minister of Gender and Youth, Sports and Recreation, Ms. Likeleli Tampane who passed it on to the British High Commissioner to Lesotho, Commissioner Anne Macro who handed it over to the Lesotho National Olympic Committee (LNOC) President, Mr. Tlali Rampooana.
He said Mr. Rampooana passed it to the athletes as the Queen’s Baton Relay started its journey to the Leribe district in which athletes exchanged hands with cyclists.
Mr. Nchakha had earlier explained that the Baton Relay run will set off from the Royal Palace in Maseru on Monday, saying it would travel across three districts thus Maseru, Berea and Leribe.
”It is going to travel through 12 villages before it reaches Ha Ramapepe where the main activity is going to occur,” he highlighted in a press state released to the media.
In addition, Mr. Nchakha said many activities would be involved while the Baton is traveling amongst communities as a way of commemorating the Queen’s message through different cultural activities including mokhibo, mohobelo and litolobonya, carried by different modes of transport and baton bearers including marathoners, cyclists, motorbikes and horse carts.
When describing the Queen’s Baton Relay, he said it is a tradition that celebrates, connects and excites communities from across the Commonwealth countries during the build-up to the Commonwealth Games and as such this will be a great moment of celebration for the nation.
The Administrator noted that the relay will then be followed by a series of activities on the 21st like youthful celebrations with the Lepereng OlympiAfrica Centre, before its departure to Seychelles on December 22.
Mr. Nchakha said this time around, what will be special would be that the Baton run would include health professionals to highlight the role played by the nurses as front runners in the fight against COVID-19, where he said the nurses at Motebang Hospital in Leribe will be allowed to exchange the baton.
He said in the past, the baton had been used to promote tourism in the country by traveling in the tourist attraction places in the country such as Maletsunyane Falls at Semonkong, Mohale Dam and Malealea.
This is for the fifth time now Lesotho welcomes the Queen’s Baton Relay after the global relay was officially launched by the Queen of England way back in 2006 leading to the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.
The Queen’s Baton travels 140 000 kilometers in a 294-day journey through 72 Commonwealth Nations and territories ahead of the Birmingham Games in 2022.
It travels the world until it reaches the city of the Games ready for the Opening Ceremony.
Source: LENA 20/12/2021