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The Indian contingent comprising 215 athletes rounded off the XXth Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Glasgow with 64 medals including 15 golds, to finish 5th on the points table, behind England, Australia, Canada and hosts Scotland.
Controversies surrounding the Indian team before the Games began
Even before the Games started, the Indian contingent was left red faced as para-powerlifter Sachin Chaudhary tested positive for a banned substance This could have adversely affected India’s performance , but the players came out trumps.
The boxing contingent too prepared to take the ring without the coaches beside them during the matches, as the world body banned the presence of Indian coaches at the ringside during the bouts, owing to a tussle between them and the Indian boxing federation, which has been banned from competing at the international arena. However, they were allowed later.
Men boxers also had to cope with the added pressure of playing without the headgear for the first time. The squash team too were without their head coach Cyrus Poncha, who was surprisingly left out of the team to Glasgow.
The ones who lived up to the expectations...
However once on the court, all these controversies were forgotten when the players took the field, with the sole aim of winning medals. Much was expected of the shooting, wrestling and badminton teams and they did not disappoint.
The shooting team, which had almost 30 players, were the most successful contingent for India as they came home with 17 medals, including 4 golds, with Abhinav Bindra, who had announced that it would be his last CWG, signing out on a high by clinching the yellow metal.
Wrestling, traditionally a sport which earns many medals at the CWG for India, was the next most successful sport, where the players bagged 11 medals, including 5 golds, with the Olympic bronze medalists Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, both finishing with gold.
The badminton players too finished off on a high with 4 medals with P Kashyap winning gold after Gurusaidutt bagged bronze. The doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa settled for silver after losing a heartbreaking final. Sans Saina Nehwal, who pulled out of the Games due to injury, P V Sindhu kept the flag flying high in the Women’s singles, winning bronze.
The ones who disappointed...
The boxing team was expected to land India at least 3 golds. As many as 4 boxers reached the finals, including Vijender Singh and the talented Devendro Singh, but they all returned home with a silver. Women's boxing made its debut at the Games and two of the three participants-Pinki Rani and Laishram Devi- won bronze and silver respectively, but could not win the elusive gold.
Athletics, where India fielded its largest contingent of 32 players, too disappointed as they could not replicate their 12 medal performance of Delhi, winning only 3 medals. Vikas Gowda created history by winning gold in the Men’s discus throw with a best throw of 63.64 metres. Young Arpinder Singh, bronze winner in the triple jump and Seema Poonia, silver medallist in the Women’s discus throw were the only winners as heavy weights Krishna Poonia, Tintu Luka and the Women’s 4x400 metre relay team came home empty handed.
The Table tennis players would be ruing their missed chances after they registered only a bronze against their name in the mens doubles event. The Women’s hockey team finished 5th and the 2010 games silver medallist in gymnastics, Ashish Kumar returned empty handed.
The Surprise packages
If it was the athletics team who pleasantly shocked everyone with their performance in Delhi, 16 year old Malaika Goel was the story of 2014, when she won a silver medal in the 10m Air Pistol. It was her first victory at the senior level. She finished fourth in the qualifications and was leading till the 10th shot, when nerves seemed to get the better of her, eventually finishing 1.9 points clear of the winner.
Women’s doubles pair of Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa did not let the absence of their coach hamper their progress as they won the first gold in squash for India at the CWG, winning against the top seeded English pair in less than 30 minutes.
Considering the tough competition in weightlifting with the presence of the Nigerians and Jamaicans,the 12 medals won is an applaudable deed. Sanjita Khumukcham gave India its first medal at the Games when she had bagged gold in the 48 kg on the very first day.
The men’s hockey team too sprung a surprise of sorts finishing 2nd despite a disastrous World Cup earlier last month, where they finished a lowly 9th. Finishing 2nd in the group and defeating higher ranked South Africa and New Zealand on the way to the finals was a highly commendable feat.
Judo, not considered a strong point of India surprised everyone as the players dished out 4 medals and the winners would like to continue their form into the Asian Games as well.
Looking ahead to the Asian Games
The Asian Games which start in less than 2 months time will provide the medal winners an opportunity to prove that the win in the CWG was no fluke and will offer the others a chance to redeem themselves. With the return of tennis and archery in the Asian Games- the games were dropped from Glasgow- the nation would hope the number of medals would increase in Incheon.
With players from China and Japan too in fray in Korea, the task won't be easy. However, the athletes will be hopeful of bettering their 2010 Asian Games record, where they had finished in sixth place.
