Birmingham: India signed off with an impressive collection of 4 gold, a silver and a bronze on the final day of Commonwealth Games 2022.
Badminton fetched three top finishes on Monday as PV Sindhu reigned supreme in women’s singles, young Lakshya Sen topped men’s singles event and Satwik Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty were far superior in the men’s doubles final.
The 40-year-old Achanta Sharath Kamal’s legend grew further as he added the men’s singles title to the mixed team and mixed doubles golds, and men’s doubles silver. Sathiyan Gunasekharan also took to the podium with a scintillating bronze-medal win over Englishman Paul Drinkhall.
The hockey team had to be content with a silver after an ignominious 0-7 drubbing at the hands of Australia.
India thus ensured a fourth-place finish in the final standings with a haul of 61 medals – made up of 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze.
But despite some rousing performances by wrestlers, boxers, shuttlers, paddlers – and not to forget the women’s lawn bowls team – India failed to match their medal haul in the previous three editions.
Four years ago, in Australia’s Gold Coast, India finished third with 66 medals. In the 2014 Glasgow Games, India bagged a total of 64 medals, though the gold count was only 15. And in 2010, Indians enjoyed their best-ever Games as they scooped a record 101 medals, including 36 gold, on home soil (New Delhi).
TOP 5 IN BIRMINGHAM CWG
1. Australia – 178 medals (67G, 57S, 54B)
2. England – 176 medals (57G, 66S, 53B)
3. Canada – 92 medals (26G, 32S, 34B)
4. India – 61 medals (22G, 16S, 23B)
5. New Zealand – 49 medals (20G, 12S, 17B).
INDIA’S TALLY IN LAST 5 CWG
2022 Birmingham: 4th – 61 medals (22G, 16S, 23B)
2018 Gold Coast: 3rd — 66 medals (26G, 20S, 20B)
2014 Glasgow: 5th — 64 medals (15G, 30S, 19B)
2010 New Delhi: 2nd — 101 medals (38G, 27S, 36B)
2006 Melbourne: 4th — 50 medals (22G, 17S, 11B).
