Intro on top: The Indian contingent left Birmingham basking in glory as they pulled off some great performances to finish fourth in the medals table with 61 medals — 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze
Birmingham: India won six medals on the final day of Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 to finish fourth in the overall standings behind Australia (178), England (176), and Canada (92).
In the previous edition (Gold Coast 2018), India had won 66 medals to finish third.
The Indians have all the reasons to be proud of their Birmingham show as they managed to win these many medals without contribution from shooting, which had earned us 16 medals in Gold Coast when India had finished with 66 medals and a third place in the standings.
India’s best performance at the Commonwealth Games was in 2010 as hosts — a second place finish with 101 medals (38-27-36). But the 2010 edition had more sports besides shooting like archery and tennis in which India won medals.
So, if we take those things into consideration, Birmingham 2022 was a huge success for India. There were gains for India at these Games which augured well taking into account next year’s Asian Games and the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
The most heartening aspect of India’s performance in Birmingham was the eight medals won in track and field with youngsters like steeplechase Avinash Sable, triple jumpers Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker, walkers Priyanka Goswami and Sandeep Kumar, javelin thrower Annu Rani, long jumper Murali Sreeshankar and Tejaswin Shankar stealing the show. India claimed eight medals in athletics including gold in the triple jump by Eldhose Paul, the first gold medal in that discipline by an Indian; the silver won by Mohinderpal Singh Gill in 1974 was our best in TJ.
The undoubted star for India in track and field was Avinash Sable who challenged the Kenyan hegemony in the 3000m steeplechase, finishing second, losing the gold medal by 500th of a second.
Abraham Kibiwot, the gold medallist, presented a brave front but it was sure he had his heart in his mouth for a few seconds as Sable made a late charge to the finish line virtually hanging onto the Kenyan runner’s shoulder as he crossed the finish line.
Eldhose Paul, who led a 1-2 finish in triple jump, was the other big gain for India from track and field, one who could be further groomed into a medal winner at Paris.
He hopped, skipped and jumped into history books as India’s first gold medallist in the triple jump finishing ahead of Abdulla Aboobacker.
Though Paul’s effort is nowhere close to the distance of 17.98 that Pedro Pichardo of Portugal, he sure is a good prospect considering his age.
The wrestlers and weightlifters, as expected, dominated the show, winning 22 of the 61 medals that India bagged. Wrestlers won 12 medals while weightlifters 10 but that was expected as the competition in both these sports is not tough at the Commonwealth Games level.
Still, the manner in which Bajrang Punia, Shakshi Malik, Deepak Punia, Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Vinesh Phogat won their gold medals was a treat to the eye.
In weightlifting, Mirabai Chanu, Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Achinta Shauli won gold with impressive performance despite the poor standard. Sanket Sargar won the silver medal, injuring himself in the process needing surgery.
The other gains for India were from the lawn bowl rinks where the team of Lovely Choubey, Rupa Rani Tirkey, Pinki, and Nayanmoni Saika won an unexpected gold in Women’s Fours while the Men’s Fours of Sunil Bahadur, Chandan Singh, Navneet Singh and Dinesh Kuma claimed a silver. India also came close to winning a medal in the Men’s Pairs event.
On the individual front, the veteran table tennis star, Achanta Sharath Kamal surprised everyone by winning four medals — three of them including the Men’s Team — gold medals. But the medals that were more satisfying were the Men’s Singles gold and the one in Mixed Doubles in the company of youngster Sreeja Akula.
Overall, the table tennis contingent, which had bagged eight medals in Gold Coast, could manage only five medals in Birmingham 2022 while para-TT star Bhavina Patel and Sonal Patel contributed gold and bronze to make the tally look more healthy.
The Indians did well in badminton too though the defeat in the Mixed Team final to Malaysia was a big dampener.
PV Sindhu claimed her first singles gold at the Commonwealth Games. The men’s doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too won their maiden gold medal in individual competitions as they came up with a superb display to beat the English pair of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy in straight games.
Lakshya Sen showed class and determination in coming back from a game down to beat a strong opponent and claim his maiden Men’s Singles title. Kidambi Srikanth, who had won silver four years ago, had to be satisfied with a bronze medal.
India failed to repeat its Gold Coast success in boxing too. In 2018, India had won nine medals in boxing, topping the table with three gold, three silver and as many bronze.
In Birmingham, India won three gold medals with World Champion Nikhat Zareen, Nitu Ghanghas and Amit Panghal triumphing in their respective weight categories. But Olympic bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain was a huge disappointment.
In squash, Saurav Ghosal won his first individual medal — a bronze in men’s singles beating a strong opponent in James Wilstrop of England in three straight games in the final. He also partnered with Dipika Pallikal Karthik for the bronze medal in mixed doubles.
The hockey team was happy to win medals at the Commonwealth Games after going medalless at Gold Coast in 2018, though the women’s team could have won a silver or even gold while the men could have avoided slumping to another humiliating defeat to World No 1 Australia in the final.
The Indian women’s cricket team, which was hosted in a hostel as they usually do instead of the various Games village, bagged the silver medal as cricket returned to the sport for the first time after 1998.
India did well in the T20 format to beat hosts England in the semifinal and just fell short against Australia in the final.
CWG 2022: Top performing countries
| RANK | COUNTRY |  |
|
|
TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4. |
India |
22 | 16 | 23 | 61 |
| 1. |
Australia |
67 | 57 | 54 | 178 |
| 2. |
England |
57 | 66 | 53 | 176 |
| 3. |
Canada |
26 | 32 | 34 | 92 |
| 5. |
New Zealand |
20 | 12 | 17 | 49 |
| 6. |
Scotland |
13 | 11 | 27 | 51 |
| 7. |
Nigeria |
12 | 9 | 14 | 35 |
| 8. |
Wales |
8 | 6 | 14 | 28 |
| 9. |
South Africa |
7 | 9 | 11 | 27 |
| 10. |
Malaysia |
7 | 8 | 8 | 23 |
