CWG 2022: Fewer medals than last time but lots to celebrate | Commonwealth Games 2022 News – Times of India

A quick glance at the final medal count for Team India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham will show that the number of medals won – 61 – are five less than the final figure in the Gold Coast four years ago in 2018 – 66.
This however does not in any way mean that the Indian contingent did worse than what their performance had been in 2018. In fact there is a lot to celebrate.
First the big positives.
There were as many as four different sports in the Birmingham edition in which India topped the medal tally (Ranking on a medal tally is determined by number of gold medals won, followed by silver and bronze). These sports were Wrestling, Weightlifting, Badminton and Table Tennis.
In Wrestling Indian athletes won a total of 12 medals, with 50% of those medals (6) being golds. India also collected one silver and five bronze medals in wrestling, across the men’s and women’s disciplines. The next best Wrestling nation at CWG 2022 was Canada. The Canadians also collected 12 medals in all, but had three golds, five silvers and four bronze medals.

Bajrang Punia. (Reuters Photo)
In Weightlifting the total medal count for Team India read 10 medals, with three golds, three silvers and four bronze medals. The second best weightlifting nation were hosts England. They finished with 10 medals, including three golds, one silver and one bronze.
In Badminton, Indian shuttlers won a total of 6 medals. This included golds for PV Sindu and Lakshya Sen in the women’s and men’s singles respectively and a gold for Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty in the men’s doubles. Not surprisingly, the second best badminton nation at CWG 2022 was Malaysia, with 5 medals, including two golds, one silver and two bronze.
In Table Tennis too, India finished on top of the medal tally in Birmingham, with a total of 7 medals, which included as many as four golds, one silver and two medals. India beat Singapore to the top of the tally in TT, with the Singaporeans also finishing with 7 medals in all, but one less gold. Their final tally read – three gold, two silver and two bronze.

Indian athletes also did exceptionally well in the boxing rings. Overall, India finished second in the boxing medal tally, with 7 medals. Team India collected three golds, one silver and three bronze medals in boxing at CWG 2022. Northern Ireland who topped the boxing medal tally also had 7 medals in all, but they had two gold medals more than India.
The one missing sport that hurt India’s overall medal tally was shooting. The sport had yielded as many as 16 medals in the 2018 edition of the CWG, where India won a total of 66 medals. This time though India won medals in sports like lawn bowls, in which they had not won any medals before this and also in women’s cricket, which made its CWG debut.

(PTI Photo)
Let’s take a quick look now at how India did across sports this time in Birmingham vis a vis their performance in 2018 in the Gold Coast edition of the Games.
The most significant improvement was in athletics.
In 2018 Indian won three medals in athletics overall. That number went up to eight this time in Birmingham. More than just an increase in the number of medals won, what made the overall performance extra special were the historic medal wins for Team India.
In the men’s 3000m steeplechase Avinash Sable bettered his own National Record to become the first non-Kenyan athlete to finish on the podium in this discipline for the first time since the 1994 edition, with his silver medal. He is also the first Indian ever to win a CWG medal in this event. The incredible gold-silver win by Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker in the men’s Triple Jump event made headlines everywhere. It was the first time an Indian won the gold medal in the men’s Triple Jump event and also the first time two Indians finished on the podium in the event. Annu Rani also joined the historic list by becoming the first Indian female javelin thrower to win a CWG medal by clinching a bronze medal. Priyanka Goswami shattered a three year old National Record to become the first Indian female race walker to win a medal at the CWG. She bagged a silver in the women’s 10,000m race walk event. Tejaswin Shankar’s bronze in the men’s High Jump event made him the first Indian to win a CWG medal in High Jump. Murali Sreesahankar’s silver in the men’s Long Jump was also a historic achievement.

Eldhose Paul (right) and Abdulla Aboobacker. (AP Photo)
While the total number of medals won in boxing went down from nine to seven in this edition from the one in 2018, historic medals in Lawn Bowls and women’s cricket were a huge shot in the arm for Indian sport overall.
The medal count in weightlifting also went up by one – from nine to ten from the 2018 edition to the 2022 one.
Keeping in mind the fact that there would be no shooting this time, TimesofIndia.com had predicted around 60 medals for India, before the Games began. India finished with 61 medals.
Overall, the total number of medals might have come down from 66 to 61 this time vis a vis the 2018 Games, but there is a lot to celebrate and be proud of if you are a fan of Indian sport.