By RNZPacific pacificnews@rnz.co.nz
Tonga’s sports association has unveiled a locally designed baton to be used in the relay for the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Photo: TASANOC Facebook
The Tonga Association of Sport and National Olympic Committee (TASANOC) – also known as the Tonga Commonwealth Games Association – presented it to British High Commissioner Philip Malone.
Tonga’s Commonwealth Games Association (CGA) commissioned master carver Sitiveni Fehoko to craft the baton.
Carved on Scottish ashwood, the design represents Tonga’s deep ocean heritage and its early leadership in Pacific seafaring and navigation.
Photo: TASANOC Facebook
Tonga CGA Secretary-General and CEO, Netina Latu Vea, said the relay represents unity, pride and the shared commitment of all Commonwealth nations.
“Tonga’s baton tells our story – our identity, our ocean, and our people,” she said.
The Glasgow Games baton relay began in March 2025 in the Caribbean, and has since continued through parts of Africa and Asia. The relay for the 2026 Games takes place over 500 days.
Tonga will take part from 1-7 February 2026, and the baton is set to tour aged-care homes, community centres, and the Vaiola Hospital.
During that week, there will be three days of beach and waterfront clean-ups across Tongatapu to support the Commonwealth Games’ ‘Clean Oceans Plastics Campaign’ – aiming to remove one million pieces of plastic from the world’s waterways during the relay.
“We are honoured to contribute to the global ‘Plastic Free Oceans’ effort and to showcase Tongan creativity and culture through our deep connection to water,” Latu Vea said.
A series of free community sports sessions and clean ocean community education activities will be held in December and January.
Once it leaves Tonga, the relay will continue throughout the South Pacific and the Americas before arriving in Glasgow for the Games’ Opening Ceremony on 23 July.
Glasgow will host a scaled-down Games, with 10 sports: artistic gymnastics, athletics and para athletics, 3×3 basketball and 3×3 wheelchair basketball, boxing, swimming and para swimming, bowls and para bowls (indoor), judo, netball, track and para track cycling, and weightlifting and powerlifting.
