Commonwealth Games 2018: The star-studded contingent and India’s chances in Gold Coast

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The twenty-first edition of the Commonwealth Games (CWG) will begin in the Australian city of Gold Coast on Wednesday.

The sporting action will however commence on Thursday, April 5 and will culminate with a closing ceremony on April 15.

The games

The games began as the ‘Inter-Empire Championships’ in 1911, before becoming the ‘British Empire Games’ in 1930. The multi-sporting event was finally named the ‘Commonwealth Games’ in 1978.

The event sees participation from athletes of the Commonwealth of Nations, which are mostly former territories of the British Empire.

Although the Commonwealth of Nations has only 53 members, as many as 71 teams participate in the games as numerous dependent territories field their respective teams under a separate flag.

For example, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales and three Crown dependencies, send a single team to the Olympic Games under the Great Britain banner, but field different teams for the CWG.

The games are overseen by the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF). The quadrennial games have had 20 editions so far, with Delhi hosting them in 2010.

Historically, India has performed well at the CWG, having won 155 gold and silver medals each and 128 bronze medals in 16 editions. India is the fourth-most successful team at the CWG.

Gold Coast 2018

The games will feature 275 events across 19 sports. This will be the first time that a major multi-sporting event will have equal number of events for men and women.

The sports include Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Hockey, Shooting, Squash, Weightlifting and Wrestling among others.

India at CWG 2018

As many as 221 athletes will be representing India at the 2018 games, including 115 men and 105 women. The contingent includes athletes for the para sports.

PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Prannoy Kumar and Kidambi Srikanth form India’s star-studded contingent for Badminton while Mary Kom will compete in the 48 kg category in Boxing.

In Hockey, India has been clubbed with arch-rival Pakistan, England, Malaysia and Wales in Pool B.

Jitu Rai will be participating in 10-metre air pistol and 50-metre pistol shooting while Gagan Narang will compete in 50-metre rifle prone event. Heena Sindhu will compete in the 10-metre air pistol and 25-metre pistol events.

Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Joshna Chinappa, who created history by bagging Women’s doubles gold in Squash, will fight to defend their title. Dipika Pallikal Karthik will also partner Saurav Ghosal in the mixed-doubles event.

Saikhom Mirabai Chanu and Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu will be competing in 48 kg and 58 kg categories respectively. Saikhom Mirabai Chanu had bagged a silver medal in the 2014 games.

Sushil Kumar and Sakshi Malik, who have several accolades to their names, will be leading India’s prowl in Wrestling.

India’s chances to win medals remain highest in Badminton, Hockey, Shooting and Wresting.

Syringe controversy

A cleaning staff member working at the Athletes village in Gold Coast found a used syringe in the section where the Indian boxing team is staying. A probe was ordered after the incident was reported to anti-doping authorities.

The authorities raided the rooms of four Indian boxers and confiscated their possessions. The boxers first denied and then acknowledged use of the syringes.

India’s boxing coach Santiago Neiva said one boxer had been given a vitamin injection because he was unwell.

While all 12 members of the boxing team were put through a doping test, the matter was not being probed as an anti-doping rule violation, but as an infringement of the Federation’s ‘no-needle policy’. The boxers were later given a clean chit by the CGF.

The opening ceremony will take place on Wednesday at 3 pm (IST).