In the 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games (CWG), almost all the athletes who won medals for India at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (except Lovlina Borgohain) returned with medals once again. However, the Birmingham Games were not limited merely to India’s expected dominance in wrestling, an outstanding performance in weightlifting, or the brilliant show by table tennis veteran Sharath Kamal Achanta—who, at the age of 40, won 3 gold and 1 silver medal, securing a medal in every event he competed in. This event will be remembered most because sports enthusiasts got the opportunity to support and follow new athletes.
In Lawn Bowls, the quartet of four female athletes—Lovely, Pinky, Nayanmoni, and Rupa Rani—forced the entire country to Google ‘Lawn Bowls’ with their unexpected victory. Despite the absence of Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra, the athletics team delivered a strong performance and won medals in unexpected events like High Jump (Tejaswin Shankar), 3,000m Steeplechase (Avinash Sable), Triple Jump (Eldhose Paul), and 10km Walk (Priyanka Goswami and Sandeep Kumar). Two young weightlifters, Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Achinta Sheuli, overcame injuries to claim gold medals in their respective categories.
Some players leveraged their experience to improve their personal bests. Backstroke specialist Srihari Nataraj was one such contender who made it to two finals among strong competing nations like Australia, England, and South Africa. Although the Commonwealth Games may not be the toughest competition, it provided a better platform to gauge India’s medal prospects for the Asian Games and the 2024 Paris Olympics. Looking at the performance in Birmingham, there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic.
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