With the curtains coming down on the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, it turned out to be a mediocre affair for the Indian contingent who returned with 61 medals, five less than their previous outing in Gold Coast in 2018.
India finished fourth on the medals tally and won a total of 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze. The final medal count also has a lot to do with the exclusion of shooting and archery where India have won a lot of medals historically. Indian won medals in 12 disciplines
There has been a lot for India to rue in this edition and last-minute pull-outs including Neeraj Chopra and Tajinderpal Singh Toor also hurt India’s chances of winning more medals.
While there have been many heartbreaks and near misses for India, there is also a lot to celebrate especially for the athletics contingent and the lawn balls players.
It turned out to be huge for the women’s four lawn balls team as their gold medal winning feat was their first ever medal in CWG and the men’s team returned with the silver medal.
It was also a historic edition for the athletics contingent as Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker completed a grand 1-2 in the men’s triple jump competition, a first for India at the CWG. But it was the performance of Avinash Sable, that would remain
etched into the hearts for a long time. Sable not only won a maiden medal in the quadrennial games but also broke the 24-year-old hegemony of Kenya in the 3000m triple jump event.
It was veteran workhorse Sharath Kamal’s last ever appearance at CWG and he did make the most of it by winning medals in all the four events he participated including three golds and a silver. His exploits in Birmingham have now increased his tally of medals to 13 across five appearances at CWG.
Also as expected, the wrestlers outwitted all the others countries winning 12 out of 12 medals in offer. Badminton players also had a great run and won a total six medals including three gold, one silver and two bronze. The weightlifters and boxers also impressed winning 10 and 7 medals respectively.
However, the biggest disappointment in this year’s event was the performance of the men’s hockey team and women’s cricket team. Even though both secured silvers, the manner in which they went down against Australia in both the finals was disastrous. The men’s hockey team lost 7-0 to six-time defending champion Australia, while women’s cricket team going downhill from a winning position to lose the match by nine runs.