India bagged a whopping 26 gold medals at the 21st Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, making it their third best performance at the Games. India had recorded 38 golds in the 2010 edition and 30 golds in CWG 2002.
However, India still has to improve in many other events at the Commonwealth Games. It’s time we stop banking only on events such as shooting, wrestling and weightlifting.
Here’s a look at the events from which India returned empty handed.
1. Gymnastics
India sent six athletes for the artistic gymnastics event – Aruna Budda Reddy, Ashish Kumar, Pranati Das, Pranati Nayak, Rakesh Patra and Yogeshwar Singh. Each of the men participated in nine events and each of the women took part in seven events.
The team’s best finish in the artistic gymnastics event was seventh place, which was attained in the women’s team event.
Each of the athletes managed to reach the final of two events, apart from Ashish Kumar, who reached the final for only one event.
Meghana Gundlapally was the lone participant in rhythmic gymnastics, she returned empty handed.
2. Basketball
The Indian men’s and women’s basketball team finished last (eighth) in their respective basketball competitions. The Indian men’s team were knocked out in the preliminary round after losing to Cameroon (96-87), England (100-54) and Scotland (96-81).
The women’s team lost all of their matches too, going down to Jamaica (66-57), Malaysia (85-72) and New Zealand (90-55).
3. Cycling Track
Nine Indians participated in the cycling track event, but none of them got even close to winning a medal. The participants are Aleena Reji (5 events), Amritha Reghunath (2 events), Deborah (5 events), Manjeet Singh (3 events), Monorama Devi Tongbram (3 events), Ranjit Singh (4 events), Sahil Kumar (4 events), Sanuraj Sanandaraj (4 events) and Sonali Mayanglambam (4 events).
India’s best result in cycling was seventh place. It was recorded in the men's team sprint and the women's 4,000 metre team pursuit event.
4. Hockey
Hockey was India’s most heart-breaking event at CWG 2018. The men’s and women’s team finished fourth in their respective competitions.
After moving into the semi-final unbeaten, the Indian men’s team lost 2-3 to New Zealand before losing the bronze medal match 1-2 to England.
The women’s hockey team started with a 2-3 loss to Wales, but quickly gathered momentum by beating Malaysia, England and South Africa in the pool matches.
But they lost 0-1 to Australia in semi-finals before going down 0-6 to England in the bronze medal match.
5. Lawn Bowls
India sent 10 athletes for the Lawn Bowls event, but none of them could return with a medal. Each of the lawn bowls athletes – Alok Lakra, Chandan Kumar Singh, Dinesh Kumar, Farzana Khan, Krishna Xalxo, Lovely Choubey, Nayanmoni Saikia, Pinki, Rupa Rani Tirkey, Sunil Bahadur – participated in two events each.
India’s best result in lawn bowls was fifth place in the women's fours event.
6. Swimming
Five Indian athletes took part in swimming at the Commonwealth Games – Kiran Tak (1 event), Sajan Prakash (4 events), Srihari Nataraj (3 events), Vaishnavi Vinod Jagtap (1 event) and Virdhawal Khade (2 events).
With none of them getting near a medal, the best finish was recorded by Vaishnavi Vinod Jagtap – she finished sixth in the women's S8 50 metre freestyle event.
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