How good was India’s performance at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham? There are different ways of looking at this, but no matter what perspective you choose, the answer is simply this: for the promise it shows, India has never had a better outing at the CWG.
India ended in Birmingham with 61 medals—22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze. This is less than in 2018 Gold Coast, where India won 66 medals, 26 of them gold. But Gold Coast featured shooting, by far India’s most dominant discipline at the CWG, whereas shooting was excluded from the programme in Birmingham. At Gold Coast, India won 16 of its 66 medals in shooting alone, seven of those gold. Adjust for that, and you realize just why Birmingham was a pathbreaking Games for India. You could repeat the same exercise with every edition of the CWG before this and come to the same conclusion.
With that perspective taken care of, let’s talk about the really important thing—those performances at Birmingham that show that Indian athletes are breaking new ground, doing things that augur well for at least the next few years for Indian sports, specifically the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Avinash Sable’s breakthrough
The 3000m steeplechase runner has been setting landmarks in his sport in India for a few years now, setting and resetting the national record at will, becoming the first Indian steeplechaser to qualify for the world championships and the Olympics. Yet, what he did at Birmingham was the most incredible result yet from the man from Maharashtra. He broke the Kenyan hegemony in the event at the CWG, where they have won every single medal at every single edition since 1998. Not this time, as Sable, in thrilling fashion, went past the 2nd and 3rd placed Kenyan runners and almost overtook the eventual champion from Kenya, before finishing second by 500th of a second and setting yet another national record. This was the race of a lifetime for Sable, but it’s also just the beginning.
A badminton clean sweep
It’s long been a matter of contention for badminton fans—while Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu have forged a pioneering path in women’s singles, why is it that we can’t find a player who can do the same for men’s singles or in doubles?
Birmingham was proof that the question has been answered, that India could be looking at an unprecedented domination of the badminton world in the years to come. Sindhu continued her awe-inspiring consistency of winning medals at every major event; the world champion and Tokyo bronze medallist defended her CWG title with ease. But this time she was joined by Lakshya Sen winning the men’s singles on the back of an absolutely miraculous year where he won a world championship medal and the Thomas Cup title on debut. Then the two singles champions were joined by Chirag Shetty and Satwik Rankireddy, the young, rising pair winning the men’s doubles, their biggest title to date.
Weightlifting resurgence
The continuing success of Tokyo silver medallist Mirabai Chanu—her CWG gold was one of highlights of India’s joyous campaign—was yet another example of what we know already—that she is among the top two lifters in her weight category in the world. In Birmingham she was joined by nine other lifters from India out of a team of 15 on the podium, including India’s first medallist in the super heavyweight divisions (Lovepreet Singh’s bronze in +109kg). But it was the rise of a crop of young, new lifters, stepping up from the junior ranks and making their big debuts, that’s got India’s lifting fraternity excited about the future: this includes Sanket Sargar (silver in men’s 55kg), Achinta Sheuli (gold, men’s 73kg) and the best of them, Jeremy Lalrinnunga (gold, men’s 67kg) a 19-year-old from Mizoram who is the closest among India’s lifters when it comes to being among the world’s best, like Chanu already is.
A bright future for boxers
Indian boxing went through a disappointing Olympic campaign in Tokyo, where only Lovlina Borgohain managed to scrape through to the podium. The biggest upset back then was Amit Panghal, then seeded No.1 in the world, exiting in the first round. Panghal was devastated, almost ready to give up on the sport. In Birmingham, he needed to show that he has clawed his way back up, needed to prove to himself that he could stand on the biggest stage and deliver. Which is exactly what he did, winning the CWG title.
Nikhat Zareen, the reigning world champion, showed why she is India’s most talented boxer right now, dominating every opponent on her way to a gold on her CWG debut—the young Zareen is already a favourite for a medal in Paris 2024. Nitu Ghanghas, the 21-year-old from Haryana who also won gold on her CWG debut, was one of the finds of the Games, as is Sagar Ahlawat, the first super heavyweight medallist at a major event for India. Ahlawat, too, was making his debut, and has been boxing for just five years. What can be more exciting than the rare appearance of a true heavyweight from India who has the potential to make it big on the world stage? Remember, Delicious Orie, the English boxer whom Ahlawat lost a close bout to in the CWG final, spars with the former unified world champion Anthony Joshua! What can Ahlawat do if he is given the proper support and care (read: sent abroad to work with a renowned coach in England or the US)?
Jump, jump, jump
It was also a crazy time for Indian athletics, typically one of India’s weakest links, with a clutch of young Indian jumpers making their breakthroughs on the global stage. Murali Sreeshankar, who has shown so much promise at the domestic level, but struggled at the global level, may just have worked through his confidence issues with his first big international medal, a silver at the CWG with a 8m-plus jump. And Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker, two young jumpers from Kerala, made history by finishing first and second in the triple jump—India’s first 1-2 at the CWG in athletics. Paul is having a breakthrough year, becoming the first Indian to qualify for the triple jump finals at the Athletics World Championships in Eugene, US, last month, before becoming the first Indian to win a gold in triple jump at the CWG.
Hockey stays on track
If the Indian men’s teams bronze in Tokyo, the first hockey medal in 40 years, and the women’s team’s run to the bronze playoffs was a glimpse of India’s past glory in the sport, the CWG showed that both teams are continuing to build on that path of resurgence. The 7-0 hammering in the final at the hands of Australia may have been a sobering experience for the men, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that Manpreet Singh’s team played very high quality hockey throughout the tournament and finished with a well-deserved silver.
The women’s hockey team was unlucky to miss out on a place in the finals after a bizarre incident that may have cost them their semi-final, but their on-field performance was powerful, proving that they too are firmly on the road to becoming a team that can challenge anyone at the highest level.
Indian women’s cricket team
Long-neglected and still handled with some amount of apathy, the women’s team keeps proving that they are among the world’s best, no matter what is thrown at them. At the CWG, where they lost a closely-fought match to Australia in the final to win a silver, they were absolutely sensational—captain Harmanpreet Kaur and opener Smriti Mandhana were giants with the bat, Renuka Thakur was brilliant with the new ball, heralding a new era in Indian fast bowling, and everyone fielded like they’ve never done before. If you haven’t seen Radha Yadav’s flying blinder in the final, do yourself a favour and watch it immediately.
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