The Indian contingent at Commonwealth games 2022 in Birmingham shone as the country finished fourth in the overall medals tally with a total of 61 medals.
Claiming 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze medals — Indian athletes have again repeated their brilliant performance at the Commonwealth games held at Birmingham recently. Though India degraded a position comparing with the last edition in Goldcoast 2018, where India had bagged 66 medals.
Sanket Sargar began the count after he bagged a silver in the men’s 55kg weightlifting event. India clinched its first gold in women’s 49kg weightlifting event as Mirabai Chanu lifted a total of 201kg.
Indian hopes were pinned on the wrestling contingent as shooting was not part of the CWG 2022, which had brought 12 medals in the last edition. Veteran Indian wrestlers such as Bajrang Punia, Sakshi Malik and Vinesh Phogat did not disappoint as they bagged gold in their respective weight categories.
The wrestling contingent won an overall 12 medals with 6 gold, 1 silver and 5 bronze.
Indian weightlifters once again proved their mettle besides the wrestlers as they bagged 10 gold medal — including 3 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze.
One of the surprising developments came from the athletics contingent with 8 medals, five more than the CWG 2018 at Gold Coast.
Youngsters such as Avinash Sable and Abdulla Aboobacker won silvers in Men’s 3000m steeplechase and triple jump respectively. Avinash Sable, challenging the hegemony of Kenyan athletes, missed the gold by 500th of a second.
The two-time Olympic medallist PV Sindhu stood up to the expectations as she won gold after beating Michelle Li in the finals despite battling an injury. Lakshya Sen won the second gold in badminton after beating Malaysia’s Tze Young NG.
World Championships medalist Kidambi Srikant bagged a bronze after winning against Singapore’s Jia Heng Teh.
Among the medalists, there were several others who missed their chance at a medal by a fraction of a second while some big shots failed to deliver. The final tally brings a wave of joy and optimism for Indian sports enthusiasts who are hoping for a better performance by India in the Paris Olympics 2024.
