CWG 2022: Fewer medals than last time but lots to celebrate

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