By Monojit Mandal
The 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham, England, is over, with the Indian contingent registering a stunning fourth place in the medals tally, just behind Australia, England and Canada.
After 11 days of gruelling competition, India’s CWG medal count stood at 61 – 22 gold, 16 silver, and 23 bronze. Although this number may appear to be well short of the 101 medals earned at the Delhi CWG in 2010, 64 in 2014, and a stunning third-place finish, with 66 medals, including 26 gold at the Gold Coast in 2018, we must consider the disciplines that were absent.
In particular, shooting, which had accounted for 16 out of the 66 medals in 2018, this performance by India deserves a big applause.
It is heartening to see that wrestlers and weightlifters won the bulk of the gold for the country. India did well in boxing and table tennis in this edition of CWG.
The event also saw the entry of India’s one of the most popular sport – cricket. To top it all, the women’s cricket contingent did splendidly well and secured silver, missing gold by a whisker; in hockey, both men’s and women’s teams secured silver and bronze, respectively.
In athletics too, India performed well, as Murali Sreeshankar, Eldhos Paul, and Abdullah Aboobacker won medals.
Mention must be made of the following – Tejaswin Shankar, who took home a momentous silver medal in the high jump category; Avinash Sable with a silver medal in men’s 3000m steeplechase; and Sandeep Kumar and Priyanka Goswami, who performed exceedingly well in the 10,000m race walk. While Kumar won bronze, Goswami bagged silver.
Annu Rani brought India a bronze medal in the women’s javelin throw event, when we missed Neeraj Chopra, the Tokyo Olympics javelin champion and world championships silver medalist, due to injury.
Northeast India made an impressive mark in CWG, 2022. Their notable influence has now become a norm, more than an aberration. The region is bounded by five international borders, and its homogeneity with bordering countries, frequently makes it a victim of racial prejudice.
The beauty of such sporting events is that it brings cultures to the forefront, closer to “the mainland”.
When we talk about sports in India, the North East is one region that appears in our minds straight away, be it football, boxing, martial arts or athletics. While the region accounts for roughly 3.7 per cent of the overall Indian population, the youngsters here are well-known for their love of sports.
Nearly 200 Indian competitors competed for medals in 16 different sports at the sporting event in Birmingham from July 28 to August 8. Four of India’s first eight medals have come through athletes from the North East, with Manipur’s Saikhom Mirabai Chanu winning the first gold medal for the country, demonstrating the region’s importance in Indian sport.
North East and sports have long been inextricably linked. While Dingko Singh and Kunjarani Devi led the way in boxing during the 90s, they were rightly followed by Sarita Devi, Mary Kom, and Lovlina Borgohain.
Bindyarani Devi, Mirabai Chanu, and Jeremy Lalrinnuga in weightlifting, and Sushila Devi in judo made India proud on various occasions in national and international events.
India’s North East region has been a virtual assembly line in producing footballers for a long time.
Infrastructural developments play an important role in this regard, even deciding the fates of athletes. While facilities in the North East have improved significantly over the previous decade, exceptional performances at major tournaments make all the difference. A decent road to Lovlina’s residence in Assam, for instance, was practically built overnight when she won a medal in Tokyo. Her town was given a makeover as dignitaries from all over the region wanted to meet her.
When we talk about mental strength as a crucial element in sports, it must be noted that most of these players possess the strength, as proven time and again.
Bindyarani’s final try in the Clean and Jerk was a make-or-break lift. She had earlier failed to lift 114 kgs and was aiming for 116 in order to win silver. One can imagine her journey of strength to pull off the sporting stint at the games this year.
Overall, this has been a splendid outing for Indian athletes in Birmingham CWG, 2022.
Similar to how a weightlifter from the North East region gave the country its first gold medal, another weightlifter from Maharashtra brought India its first medal in CWG, winning a silver in the men’s 55 kg weightlifting category.
Who can forget Mizoram’s Jeremy Lalrinnunga? He became the first Indian to win the top podium in CWG 2022.
Then there is Sudhir, who earned India’s first gold medal in the para powerlifting category, winning the title of men’s heavyweight champion.
Hopefully, India will build on its achievements in Birmingham to reach greater heights.