The Queen's baton relay, which is the curtain raiser to the Commonwealth Games, to be held in Glasgow (Scotland) next year, arrived here today.
Over a period of 288 days, the baton will visit 70 countries covering over 190,000 kilometres, an officials said.
The baton, which was received by Sri Lankan Olympic Committee officials at the Colombo international airport here, was taken to the independence square by the former national hurdler Sriyani Kulawansa.
It was later carried to Colombo's British High Commissioner's residence for an evening reception.
Tomorrow the baton will be taken to Kandy by a train, which will leave from here in the morning.
There will be several intervening receptions at selected stations along the route to Kandy, the officials added.
From Sri Lanka, the baton will be heading to the Maldives' capital, Male.
