India’s largest contingent in the 2022 Commonwealth Games returned with an impressive 61 medals. Now that we’ve had a day to reflect, the post-mortem can really begin.
Here’s how ESPN rated the performance of India’s sports contingent in Birmingham:
Athletics – Grade: A
38 athletes, 8 medals – India’s best Commonwealth Games medal haul in athletics since the 2010 edition in Delhi. Avinash Sable’s silver medal has gone viral; Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker gave us the rare sight of a double podium for India in athletics; Murali Sreeshankar and Tejaswin Shankar leaped long and high into the Birmingham night sky – this was a memorable game for India’s athletic contingent. *And they did it without Neeraj Chopra*
Read more: Accountant and now CWG medalist: Tejaswin Shankar wins bronze after winning biggest battle to reach Birmingham This may interest you : UAE to invest US$2 billion in hi-tech ‘food parks’ to grow Indian crops.
Badminton – Grade: B
India won a medal in every badminton event except mixed doubles, and while the medals were the same as in 2018 (6), there were more gold medals on offer this time (3 gold , 1 silver, 2 bronze). PV Sindhu, Lakshya Sen and Saitwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty waltzed their way to the top of the podium with little fuss, making silver in the mixed team event more frustrating. See the article : United States climbs to the top after big night Saturday at World Athletics Championships: Medal table. Treesa Jolly and 19-year-old Gayatri Gopichand won an exhilarating bronze which is perhaps a sign of things to come.
However, with the absence of most of the leading BWF Tour countries/players in the Commonwealth Games, this is perhaps the least that could be expected from a contingent that had strengthened its reputation before the games.
Boxing – Grade: B-
Three of the four women in the twelve-member boxing contingent returned with medals, with Olympic medalist Lovlina Borgohain disappointing and looking worryingly rusty. Nikhat Zareen, Nitu Ghanghas and Amit Panghal underlined their reputation with gold, while Sagar Ahlawat was undoubtedly the boxing discovery of these Games, having only taken up the sport five years ago. See the article : USA sets medal record at Oregon22: Final medal count at 2022 World Athletics Championships. The seven medals are down from nine in 2018, but still a good return.
TL;DR: Live up to expectations. Just about
Read more: Nikhat Zareen is a champion: World, CWG and of his own space
Cricket – Grade: A-
There’s no point in reliving *that* heartbreaking ending, though for the masochists among you, the report is here. The Australian bogey of the Indian women’s cricket team continued, but a silver medal is still a tangible return, which should hopefully improve the future of the often neglected women’s cricket scene in India. Fingers crossed, either way.
TL;DR: Expect exceeded. Only
Cycling – Grade: B
There was not much expected of the Indian cycling contingent pre-games, and there will not be much expected post-games. As hard as it seems, the fact that even making the final of most of the events was hard for the 13 cyclists who were presented to us is unfortunate. L Ronaldo Singh and David Beckham And they will be disappointed that they return with the Indian audience know more for the novelty of their names, rather than their facts.
TL;DR: There was no waiting.
Gymnastics – Grade: B
See the bike above. Some absolutely beautiful images of them, though.
TL;DR: There was no waiting.
Hockey – Grade: A-
Oh boy Where do we begin? The dramatic shootout controversy for the women’s team against Australia that left Savita Punia in tears? Or the redemption of the shootout a day later, which left Savita Punia in tears, happy this time. It is a first medal for the women’s age group, and also a very deserved one.
The men’s side continued their upward progress after the Tokyo Olympics and the FIH Pro League campaign, appearing a more cohesive outfit as the days went on… before running in Australia (NEW) . They were gutted in the finale, and that silver, while impressive, looks a little more silvery than usual silver.
Read more: India win hockey bronze as Savita Punia clears shootout bogey
Judo – Grade: A-
Grip, kick, ippon. Most of Shushila Devi Likmabam’s fights went this way, until the final. She came for the gold and returned with the silver – the pain written big on her face even in the medal ceremony. Tulika Maan had similar things to say after her silver, but she impressed on her CWG debut. With Vijay Kumar Yadav’s bronze, he is one medal shy of his 2014 return (2 silver, 2 bronze; judo was not in 2018), but Indian judokas should be happy with their performances in general
TL;DR: Expect exceeded. Little.
Lawn Bowls – Grade: A+
Lovely Choubey, Pinki, Nayanmoni Saikia and Rupa Rani Tirkey – names burned into the memory of a nation as the quartet won the most unexpected of four women’s gold medals. The four-man team of Sunil Bahadur, Navneet Singh, Chandan Kumar Singh and Dinesh Kumar also won silver later.
From being an afterthought to stunning India in memorable finals that had the most bet on the rule book – this was absolutely, absolutely superb.
TL;DR: There was no waiting. Totally awesome.
Read more: Bocciali: Fab four tear away stereotypes to give historic medal to India
Squash – Grade: B
Saurav Ghosal has become India’s best men’s squash player, winning the nation’s first CWG singles medal after a long, long career. It is not surprising that he was overcome by emotions, and his bronze with Dipika Pallikal Karthik (returning to sports after birth), only underlined his legend. Joshna Chinappa will be disappointed to return empty-handed after raising hopes with a double gold at the Worlds earlier this year.
TL;DR: Some exceeded expectations. Some are down.
Swimming – Grade: B-
Srihari Nataraj enhanced his reputation with a string of finals appearances – not usually the case for India. The rest of the contingent struggled, as expected, but put up a good fight.
Table Tennis – Grade: B+
Achanta Sharath Kamal. 40 years young. legend CWG. Medalist in every event he was involved in. At the other end we have Manika Batra, who returned empty handed after her heroics in 2018 – what a difference four years makes. G Sathiyan, Sanil Shetty, Harmeet Desai and Sreeja Akula were also involved as the Indian table tennis contingent brought home a wealth of medals, although it was not the most intimidating of fields in the absence of China.
Bhavina Patel and Sonal Patel made it another double podium for India in para table tennis.
TL; DR: It would have been a lower grade, but Bhavina’s heroics for TT raised it.
Read more: Sharath Kamal in numbers – the GOAT Indian table tennis
Triathlon – Grade: C
India’s strong four-member triathlon contingent were all making their CWG debut, including 16-year-old Sanjana Joshi. There was little hope that Pragnya Mohan would pull off a surprise, but overall, the quartet didn’t move the needle.
Weightlifting – Grade: B+
Mirabai Chanu’s smile, Jeremy Lalrinnunga’s coming-of-age moment, Achinta Sheuli’s inspirational path to gold, Sanket Sargar defied injury to win silver on debut – India’s strong heavyweight contingent of 15 members returned with 10 medals (1 best from 2018), while Sudhir also won a gold in para powerlifting. However, in the absence of heavyweights from Eastern Europe and China, this was an expected return.
TL;DR: Do you even get up? Yes, very well. wait
Read more: It was Mirabai vs Mirabai, and there could only be one winner
Wrestling – Grade: A-
12 wrestlers, 12 medals. It could be argued that the Indian wrestlers had it tougher in the national trials to go to the games. However, one can only beat what is in front of them, and Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Deepak Punia, Sakshi Malik and Naveen Malik had little trouble rolling on the mat, wrestling their opponents into submission and winning gold in seconds. .
TL;DR: Expect exceeded. Meet them if expectations were high to begin with.
