Delhi handover in Edinburgh

Ninety primary school children from across Edinburgh will strut their stuff in Festival Square, Edinburgh on Thursday 14th October as they perform a special ‘sport dance’ to celebrate the Delhi Commonwealth Games Handover Ceremony taking place at this year’s Commonwealth Games. The Edinburgh Commonwealth Games Handover event, which is part of EventScotland’s Games for Scotland initiative, is one of a number of events taking place across the country designed to create a sense of pride around Scotland’s hosting of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014.

The children from Stenhouse, Prestonfield and Royal Mile Primary Schools have been training hard with instructors from Dance Base, national centre for dance, to prepare for their Games for Scotland dance exhibition. Their dance will be performed in front of the Big Screen before the Delhi Handover Ceremony is broadcast live from India.

Sport Dance involves using sports skills choreographed into a dance routine.

Culture Minister Fiona Hyslop will introduce the young dancers’ performance.

Ms Hyslop said: “This handover ceremony will mark the start of the official countdown to Scotland hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014. The Games present an unrivalled opportunity to show the world what our nation has to offer and to create a lasting legacy for the whole of Scotland.

“Already the Games are inspiring Scots to get involved and to get active. It is fantastic to see so many communities joining in the celebrations as we start our push to Get Scotland Dancing and create an Active Nation.”

The Games for Scotland event in Festival Square has been organised by the Edinburgh Commonwealth Games Legacy Group, namely: the City of Edinburgh Council, Edinburgh Leisure, NHS Lothian, Festivals Edinburgh, University of Edinburgh and Stevenson College.

Edinburgh’s three Delhi handover ‘cast members’, who were selected to represent the city in the Games’ mass-choreographed closing ceremony, have produced a video blog diary of their time at Bootcamp. This will also be broadcast on the Big Screen on Thursday afternoon.

The Handover Ceremony marks the Flag Handover from Delhi to Glasgow, and includes an eight-minute creative programme to showcase Glasgow and Scotland to the rest of the world. The performance, which will involve a mass choreographed dance routine, will take place in the spectacular Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in front of a stadium audience of 60,000 during the Closing Ceremony of the 2010 Commonwealth Games. The performance will be beamed live across the Commonwealth to an estimated audience of 1 billion people.

Councillor Deidre Brock, Culture and Leisure Convenor for the City of Edinburgh, said: “Edinburgh has forged a reputation as one of the World’s leading destinations for major sporting events and we’re committed, through our successful Activcity programme, to harnessing the excitement of these occasions to inspire residents of all ages to discover the benefits of a healthy active lifestyle. We and our partners, including Edinburgh Leisure, are already working extremely hard to ensure that the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games leave a lasting, valuable legacy for future generations to come. This handover ceremony celebration in Festival Square is an excellent way of publicly demonstrating this commitment.”

Edinburgh Leisure Legacy Officer, Shelagh Jackson, said: “Edinburgh Leisure is delighted to be a key partner in this exciting and energetic event which marks the official handover of The Commonwealth Games to Scotland.  Edinburgh Leisure’s core purpose is to ensure as many people in Edinburgh become and stay active and we look forward to exploring the wealth of opportunities to inspire the people of Edinburgh to take part in physical activity that becoming host nation to The Commonwealth Games will bring.”

Paul Bush OBE, Chief Operating Officer at EventScotland, the national events agency, said: “The Edinburgh Commonwealth Games Handover Event is a fantastic event which we are delighted to be supporting as part of the Games for Scotland programme. The event will provide local community members with the opportunity to unite and take pride in Scotland’s role as host of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. It is a fantastic example of Edinburgh Council’s contribution to making Scotland the perfect stage for events.”

Minister for Public Health and Sport, Shona Robison, said: “I’m delighted to see all 32 local authorities taking part and joining in the celebrations around the handover of the Commonwealth Games to Scotland. The range of these events will help make the Handover a memorable occasion across Scotland and build real excitement and involvement in our communities as we take a significant step to hosting the Games in 2014. We want to create a lasting legacy from the games and we want to get the country involved. The events will be a chance for Scots all over the country to join in, be inspired and get active.”

University of Edinburgh to open office in Mumbai

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been entered into between the University of Edinburgh and the University of Delhi to promote joint research and student exchange programmes. Edinburgh University is also opening a new office in Mumbai.

First Minister Alex Salmond and Indian Minister of Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal welcomed the moves to strengthen Scotland’s and India’s long established learning links. In addition to Edinburgh other institutions have made similar arrangements:-

* MOU between University of Abertay Dundee and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) in Allahabad to promote joint research and student exchange programmes

* A partnership agreement between Glasgow Caledonian University (GCU) and Sitaram Bhartia Institute of Science and Research in New Delhi to deliver programmes which could see thousands of people in India spared unnecessary amputation through diabetes. It has forged partnerships with the MV Diabetes Research Centre in Chennai, Lilavati Hospital in Mumbai and Max Health Care, also in Delhi
* MOU between Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and India’s National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (NABET) to develop skills and training

The new agreements build on the MOU signed by Universities Scotland and the Association of Indian Universities in October 2009.

The bilateral agreement seeks to share knowledge and best practice, promote student and faculty exchange, drive collaboration in research and development, encourage joint degree development and identify funding opportunities.

The FM said:-”Scotland is renowned for its world class education system and I warmly welcome these new commitments to share knowledge, expertise and skills with India which build on the MOU signed in 2009.

“We have global strengths in key industries such as life sciences, energy, financial and business services, the digital gaming industry and information technology and we are keen to learn from the dynamic growth and specialism in Indian Universities. Scottish Development International is working to increase this collaboration in education between Scotland and India.

“India is one of our key countries of interest for educational collaboration and over 4,000 students from India already study at Scottish colleges and universities. These new partnerships will benefit both Scotland and India, enhancing research and development opportunities, promoting student exchange and paving the way for further co-operation in the future.”

Mr Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Government of India, said:-”The agreement with Scotland advances our sweeping reform agenda for higher education. We intend to empower our students by providing access to the finest university education the world has on offer. And in Scotland, with its higher learning tradition that goes back to the Renaissance, we have found a worthy partner.”

Professor Sir Timothy O’Shea, Principal of the University of Edinburgh said:-”The University of Edinburgh is committed to strengthening collaboration with India and our alumni. Our links in India are extremely important to Edinburgh. We are very proud of our connections with institutions such as the University of Delhi and of the hundreds of Indian students who choose to study in Edinburgh each year.”

Pamela Gillies, Glasgow Caledonian University Principal and Vice-Chancellor said:

“Our partners in India are very important to us and we are very privileged indeed to be working with our esteemed Indian colleagues on this groundbreaking initiative to help prevent unnecessary suffering through diabetes-related limb amputations. The support of the Scottish Government and SDI will allow us to share our podiatric expertise with doctors around India, building capacity in a sustainable way that will transform lives.”

Dr Janet Brown, SQA chief executive, said:

“SQA International is working on a worldwide basis to support and develop education and training across the globe and as a significant part of these initiatives I’m delighted to be signing this MOU.

“This partnership will allow SQA to strengthen further its links with the education sector in the sub-continent. We’re delighted also that this agreement will provide a significant level of ongoing support to NABET as they drive forward their ambitious plans to implement quality systems in schools and vocational education and training institutions.”

Delhi here we come

Team Scotland are off to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Michael Cavanagh, Chairman of Commonwealth Games Scotland announced that the CGS Board had made the decision to fly out to the Commonwealth Games in Delhi today as planned. This follows confirmation from the Team’s Chef de Mission, Jon Doig, that progress continues to be made and guarantees have been given by the Delhi 2010 Organising Committee and the Commonwealth Games Federation that all the outstanding issues will be resolved prior to the arrival of the team. Based on this, Team Scotland is able to confirm its participation.

STV has some photographs of the athletes as they were about to leave for India.

Michael Cavanagh announced:- “I am delighted that the Board has been able to confirm our intention to fly to the Games on Saturday as hoped. There will undoubtedly be challenges ahead in Delhi, but we are confident that these can be effectively managed by our Team management, who have done a fantastic job over the last week to ensure we could get to this position and we thank them for their unstinting efforts.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our athletes who have remained calm throughout these extremely difficult few days and continued to pledge their commitment to the team. I know how hard they have worked to get themselves in the best possible shape for the Games and I am delighted that they will now get the opportunity they deserve to show just what they can do. They have already made us very proud and I know they will represent us with the pride and passion that makes members of Team Scotland so unique.”

Jon Doig, Team Scotland Chef de Mission said: “We are really looking forward to welcoming the athletes to Delhi and are working hard to finalise preparations. We are really grateful to the people of Scotland for the tremendous support they have shown us and we hope they can now look forward to watching our athletes compete at the Games.”

On hearing the news lawn bowler, Willie Wood said: “I am absolutely delighted to hear that we will be travelling to Delhi tomorrow as planned. It’s great to see that things have moved on significantly from the start of the week, and I can now focus on competing for Scotland at my eighth Commonwealth Games.”

The sports due to travel today are: Archery, Lawn Bowls, Shooting, Tennis and Weightlifting. According to Team Scotland, plans are currently being finalised to reschedule those who were due to travel yesterday (Rugby 7s, Boxing and Wrestling) and it is anticipated that they will now travel on Tuesday 28 September.

Public Health and Sport Minister Shona Robison attended the third emergency meeting of the Glasgow 2014 strategic Group. After the meeting she said:-”Following the third emergency meeting of the Glasgow 2014 Strategic Group, I am delighted that Commonwealth Games Scotland now feel they are in a position to confirm that our athletes will travel to compete in the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

“The Scottish Government and its partners have been working hard to ensure that Team Scotland participates in the Delhi Games and I would like to commend our athletes for their positive attitude during a very challenging time.

“I was grateful to receive an update from the Indian Minister for Sport MS Gill yesterday who provided much needed assurances that action was now being taken to address outstanding health and safety concerns over the Athletes Village. We have accepted the guarantees of the Indian authorities and the Commonwealth Games Federation that these issues are being addressed as a matter of urgency.

“I will continue dialogue with the Indian government and will speak with the Minister again today to ensure that further progress is made.

“All Games partners will continue to cooperate to ensure Team Scotland have an enjoyable and successful Commonwealth Games and I look forward to waving off the first athletes at Glasgow airport tomorrow.”

Team Scotland left Glasgow Airport on an Emirates flight this morning. This is the shooting team at check-in!

You can follow what happens to Team Scotland during the Commonwealth Games on Twitter

We feel moved however to comment on the Team Scotland website. Apart from the front page it is a bit poor. There are old articles, links which do not work and few photographs. C’mon Scotland – you can do better than this!

One Scottish tennis player, Elena Baltacha, has since withdrawn from the games as she fears for her health. The BBC online has the full story.

Delhi here we come!

The athletes who will represent Scotland at next month’s Commonwealth Games in Delhi were named today.

Scots will compete in 16 of the 17 sports disciplines in India. The oldest is 72-year-old bowler Willie Wood, at the Games for a record eighth time, and the youngest is diver Grace Reid, aged 14.

The Delhi Games will be held between October 3 and 14. Glasgow is to be the host city in 2014.

Sport Minister Shona Robison said:

“I wish all the athletes selected to represent Team Scotland at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi the very best of luck. All of these athletes have reached this point through sheer hard work, dedication and commitment and are an inspiration to us all.

“The 2010 Games is a perfect platform for our athletes to demonstrate their talent and ability on the international sporting stage. The Games will also provide experience for those who have aspirations to compete for Scotland in front of a home crowd when Glasgow hosts the Games in 2014. I am looking forward to going to Delhi to support the team and I’m sure I will witness some outstanding performances.”