Out of the 71 participating nations in the last Commonwealth Games of 2014, India ranked 5th in terms of the total medal tally (64). Before that in 2010, our nation stood 2nd with a first time ever record of 101 medals. India’s story at international sporting events especially in the discipline of Olympic style events has been improving over the years.
This year the Games are being hosted down south for the 5th time in history. And expectations from our athletes are immense. The 11 day sporting extravaganza will end on 15th of April along with the closing ceremony. But before that, let’s take a look at India’s performance this season till date. The hits, the misses and the ones that were almost there :
The day wise medal tally
India has a total of 218 competitors in 17 sports. As of now, India has already won a total of 24 medals.
Day 1
1. Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu officiated the Indian medal tally with a Gold in women’s 48 kg.
2. Weightlifter Gururaja Poojary won a Silver in men’s 56 kg on the opening day.
Day 2
1. Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu won Gold in Women’s Weightlifting, category 53 kg.
2. Deepak Lather won Bronze in Men’s Weightlifting, category 69 kg.
Day 3
1. Sathish Sivalingam won Gold in Weightlifting Men’s, category 77 kg.
2. Ragala Venkat Rahul on Gold in Weightlifting Men’s, category 85 kg.
Day 4
1. Punam Yadav won Gold in Weightlifting Women’s, category 69 kg.
2. Manu Bhaker won Gold in Shooting, category women’s 10m air pistol.
3. The Women’s Table Tennis Team won its first ever CWG Gold.
4. Heena Sindhu won Silver in Shooting, category women’s 10m air pistol.
5. Ravi Kumar won Bronze in Shooting, category men’s 10m air rifle.
6. Vikas Thakur won Bronze in Weightlifting, category men’s 94 kg.
Day 5
1. Jitu Rai won Gold in Shooting, category men’s 10m air pistol.
2. The Men’s Table Tennis Team won Gold after defeating Nigeria 3-0.
3. The Mixed Team Badminton claimed Gold for the first time in the CWG history.
4. Pradeep Singh won Silver in Weightlifting, category men’s 105 kg.
5. Mehuli Ghosh won Silver in Shooting, category women’s 10m air rifle.
6. Om Mitharval on Bronze in Shooting, category men’s 10m air pistol
7. Apurvi Chandela won Bronze in Shooting, category women’s 10m air rifle.
Day 6
1. Heena Sindhu won her second medal, Gold in Shooting, category women’s 25m pistol.
2. Sachin Choudhary won Bronze in Powerlifting, category men’s heavyweight.
Day 7
1. Ankur Mittal and Om Mitharval won Bronze medal in Double Trap Men’s final.
2. Shreyasi Singh won Gold with a score of 96+2 in Double Trap Women’s Final.
Who’s Who – The Gold Medalists
1. Heena Sidhu
The right handed Indian Sport Shooter from Punjab is a former World No.1 who has already won two medals in the ongoing CWG. She took a rigorous training session under her coach, husband and a former shooter himself, Ronak Pandit for the preparation of Gold Coast 2018. Heena belongs to a family of shooters with her father and brother being involved with national sports. In 2014, Sidhu was conferred the Arjuna Award.
2. Mirabai Chanu
The Indian weightlifter from Manipur has won the World Championships and multiple medals at the Commonwealth Games. She was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India for her contributions to the sport.
3. Khumukcham Sanjita Chanu
Another Indian weightlifter from Manipur won the gold medals at the at the 2014 Glasgow and the 2018 Gold Coast events in the women’s 48kg and 53kg weight category respectively. She holds the Commonwealth Games record of 84kg for the Snatch segment in the latter weight category.
4. Satish Sivalingam
The Indian weightlifter from Tamil Nadu has won gold medals in the men’s 77 kg weight class at both the 2014 and the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
5. Ragala Venkat Rahul
The 21 year old Indian weightlifter from Andra Pradesh has previously won India’s first ever medal in weightlifting at the Youth Olympics.
6. Punam Yadav
The young Indian weightlifter is from Varanasi. A farmer’s daughter who has previously won Bronze medal in the women’s 63 kg weight category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
7. Manu Bhaker
The 16 year old Indian Sport Shooter resides from Jhajjar, Haryana. She is the youngest Indian to win a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup. This is her maiden CWG.
8. Jitu Rai
A former Khel Ratna Awardee (2016), Jitu Rai is an Indian shooter of Nepali origin.
9. Shreyasi Singh
The 26 year old shooter from Delhi comes from a shooting background. Her late father Digvijay Singh, a former Member of Parliament from Bihar, and grandfather Kumar Surendra Singh, both served as presidents of the National Rifle Association of India. She claimed a silver medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Major Disappointments
1. Joshna Chinappa the Gold medalist from CWG 2014,lost the quarter final of women’s squash to New Zealand’s Joelle King.
2. India’s medal hopes in artistic gymnastics women’s individual all-around final were dashed after Aruna Budda Reddy and Pranati Das finished a disappointing 14th and 16th respectively.
3. Manish and Irfan disappointed in men’s 20km race walk.
4. Gagan Narang a former CWG medalist lost out in men’s 50m air rifle prone. Chain Singh came a close 4th but failed in the later stages.
Stay tuned for more updates.