INDIA’S HAUL OF FAME

CWG Medal Rush Is Another Step In The Right Direction After The High Of Tokyo Olympics

- Hindol Basu

Birmingham: After the Tokyo Olympics, where India won an unprecedented seven medals, expectations from the country’s 2022 Commonwealth Games contingent were high. Before Birmingham 2022, anticipation of medals was there, but not of a deluge. The absence of shooting, a sport where India dominates on the CWG stage, meant the final medal tally would drop. Star javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra being ruled out due to a groin injury, looked like a huge setback.

The Indian contingent had other thoughts though. The wrestlers, the paddlers, the boxers, the lifters, the shuttlers, the judokas, the track and field athletes, and not to forget the Lawn Bowls men and women’s teams, raised their game. India finished 2022 CWG with a haul of 61 medals, including 22 gold. It all started rolling when lifter Sanket Sargar, who comes from Sangli, Maharashtra, clinched silver in the men’s 55kg category. Sargar, in fact, suffered a grave elbow injury during his lifts and was seen on the podium with his right arm in a sling.