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Birmingham, August 17, 2022
From July 28 to August 8, nearly 200 Indian athletes competed for medals across 16 different sports at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.
India had a fruitful campaign at Birmingham 2022, winning 61 medals (22 golds, 16 silvers and 23 bronzes). Wrestling topped the medal chart with 12 medals including six golds while weightlifting accounted for 10 medals. The men’s triple jump team made history with a 1-2 finish, as did Avinash Sable with his silver medal breaking the Kenyan monopoly on the podium in the men’s 3000 m steeplechase.
Tulika Maan and Shushila Devi headlined the success in judo with their silver medals.
At the last edition at Gold Coast 2018, Indian athletes won a total of 66 medals, 26 gold and 20 silver and 20 bronze to finish third overall, behind hosts Australia and England.
However, shooting, which contributed 16 of the 66 medals at Gold Coast 2018, was cut from the Commonwealth Games program for Birmingham 2022.
In fact, 135 of India’s total tally of 564 medals at the Commonwealth Games have come in shooting – more than any other sport. This includes the 30 medals Indian shooters won during the 2010 New Delhi CWG – where India enjoyed their most successful Commonwealth Games in history, winning a total of 101 medals.
Absence of Neeraj Chopra
Tokyo Olympics javelin champion and world championships silver medallist Neeraj Chopra’s late withdrawal from CWG 2022 due to injury certainly left India one medal short.
In shooting and Neeraj Chopra’s absence, the onus was on the Indian wrestling contingent, featuring Olympic medallists Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Bajarang Punia and Sakshi Malik, and a strong badminton team, spearheaded by two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu and world championships medallist Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, to drive India up the medals table in Birmingham. The weightlifting team also carried the nation’s hopes.
At Commonwealth Games 2022, Indian athletes won 61 medals, 22 golds, 16 silvers and 23 bronze, at the Commonwealth Games 2022.
Sanket Sagar was the first Indian to win a medal in Birmingham, bagging a silver in the men’s 55 kg weightlifting event. Mirabai Chanu was the first Indian to win gold at CWG 2022 while Jeremy Lalrinnunga was the first Indian man to clinch the top podium at Birmingham.
Sudhir won the first medal for India, a gold, in para-sports at the CWG 2022. He became the champion in the para powerlifting men’s heavyweight category.
The beginnings at CWG
India has won 564 medals at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) since the nation made its debut in 1934. Jaspal Rana, with 15 medals, is the most successful Indian at the CWG. India has been fairly regular at these Games, featuring in all but four editions (1930, 1950, 1962 and 1986) of the quadrennial showpiece.
Indian athletes debuted at the CWG, then called the British Empire Games, back in 1934.
The Indian contingent at London 1934 CWG featured six athletes, who competed in 10 track and field events and one wrestling event. India won one medal at their debut Commonwealth Games.
Wrestler Rashid Anwar was the first Indian to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games after clinching the bronze medal in the men’s 74 kg freestyle wrestling event at CWG 1934.
Since its debut in 1934, India has won 564 medals – 203 golds, 189 silvers and 172 bronze – at the Commonwealth Games.
Milka Singh 1958
However, the first few editions were very challenging for the nation.
Post-independence, India mainly participated in athletics but medals were few and far between until things took a turn for the better in 1958.
Legendary sprinter Milka Singh became the first Indian to win a gold medal at the CWG, clinching the top spot in the men’s 440-yard event at Cardiff in 1958. India bagged another gold in the same edition when heavyweight wrestler Lila Ram won in the men’s 100 kg freestyle category.
Cardiff 1958 was a historic year for women’s participation too as track and field athletes Stephanie D’Souza and Elizabeth Davenport became the first Indian women to compete at the Commonwealth Games.
Meanwhile, the rise of Indian wrestling in the 70s and the 80s played a significant role in the country’s improving fortunes at the Commonwealth Games.
Chandrasekaran, Jewel in the Crown
After the wrestlers, the Indian weightlifters stepped up and earned numerous accolades for the nation, with Raghavan Chandrasekaran proving to be the Jewel in the Crown.
Two-time Olympian weightlifter Raghavan Chandrasekaran won three gold medals, including snatch, clean and jerk and overall, in the flyweight division at Commonwealth Games 1990 and followed it up with three silvers in bantamweight at the 1994 edition in Victoria, Canada.
However, it is the shooters that have won the most medals for India at the CWG, with 135 podium finishes. Pistol shooter Jaspal Rana is the most successful Indian athlete at the Commonwealth Games, with 15 medals – nine golds, four silvers and two bronze. He dominated the shooting circuit in the 1990s and early 2000s.
The Indian shooters played a crucial role during India’s best showing at the Commonwealth Games, which came in 2010.
At New Delhi 2010, India won 101 medals – 39 gold medals, 26 silvers and 36 bronze to finish second on the medals leader board. New Delhi 2010 remains India’s most successful Commonwealth Games to date.
Indian women step up
While the men dominated the winners’ list in the initial years, Indian women have also upped their performances in the last few editions.
Indian badminton players Ami Ghia and Kanwal Singh were the first Indian women to win a Commonwealth Games medal, pocketing a women’s doubles bronze during Edmonton 1978.
Indian women have come a long way since 1978.
At Commonwealth Games 2018 in Gold Coast, Australia table tennis ace Manika Batra was the most successful Indian with four medals. India finished third with 66 medals at the edition.
Since the 2000s, India has consistently finished among the top five countries in the medals table and is now a force to be reckoned with at the Commonwealth Games.
