India wins 26 Gold Medals at Commonwealth Games 2018

India has ended their Commonwealth Games 2018 campaign in third place in the final Medals Table with 26 Gold medals.

It has been another successful CWG for the Indians who have 66 medals, two more than their previous total of 64 in the 2014 Games in Scotland.

Vikas Krishan, Sanjeev Rajput, Sanjita Chanu and Sushil Kumar are a few athletes from the country who have secured a gold medal in their individual events.

DESIblitz rounds-up another outstanding Commonwealth Games for India in Australia. 

Indian Female Sporting Superstars Emerge

Most of the sporting focus in India is centred around men but there has been a new wave of sportswomen who have been breaking barriers on the Gold Coast.

What was interesting about India’s Commonwealth Games 2018 Medal Total was that there was a 50-50 split between the men and women claiming gold medals.

Mary Kom sealed her place as one of the all-time greats as she secured her first Commonwealth Games Boxing Gold in the Women’s Light Flyweight category.

16-year-old shooting superstar Manu Bhaker announced herself on the world stage by securing Gold in her CWG debut for India in the Women’s 10m Air Pistol.

2014 CWG Bronze medallist Punam Yadav delivered a Gold in the Women’s Weightlifting (69kg) after going up 6 kilograms in weight.

Times are changing for a country of 1.3 billion people where Indian sportswomen are being recognised alongside the men for their achievements.

First-ever All-Indian CWG Final

For the first time in the history of the Commonwealth Games, there was an all-Indian final in the Women’s Badminton Singles event.

Saina Nehwal and P.V. Sindhu played against each other in the quest to secure the 26th Gold medal for India.

In a thrilling match that nearly lasted an hour, both Saina and Sindhu exchanged points in a match that had delivered so much drama and excitement.

In the second game tie-breaker, there was a 64-shot rally as Saina gained the upper hand to go one point from securing Gold at 20-19.

Sindhu fought back valiantly but the former World Number 1’s experience was too much for Sindhu to handle as Saina claimed the Gold Medal in a compelling final.

Non-traditional Sports deliver Gold Medals

Much of the focus post-Commonwealth Games has been centred around the success of India’s shooting team, but there has been medal success in other sports.

Some of those sports that the Indian team have claimed Gold in Australia include table tennis, javelin, wrestling, weightlifting and boxing.

21-year-old Neeraj Chopra, who made his debut on the Gold Coast, made a huge statement in the Men’s Javelin event.

Neeraj threw the javelin past 86 metres (86.47 metres) to claim his first CWG Gold in his debut on the Gold Coast.

Vikas Krishan and Gaurav Solanki both claimed Gold Medals in the Men’s Boxing in the Flyweight and Middleweight categories respectively.

The biggest story to come from the Indian team at the CWG 2018 was the double Golds from the Men’s and Women’s Table Tennis teams.

Sushil Kumar claimed yet another Gold in the Men’s Freestyle Wrestling – 57kg event at the age of 34, adding to his medal collection which includes a Silver at the 2012 London Olympics.

Weightlifting saw five Golds claimed by Punam (Women’s 69kg), Venkat Rahul (Men’s 85kg), Sathish Sivalingam (Men’s 77kg), Sanjita Chanu (Women’s 53kg) and Mirabai Chanu (Women’s 48kg).

It will be interesting to see how many medals India will claim in non-traditional sports at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

16 Medals claimed for Indian Shooters

India delivered their best-ever shooting performance at the Commonwealth Games, an event they were expected to do well in.

16 medals in total were won by Indian shooters, which included seven Golds, four Silvers and five Bronze.

The success of India’s performance at the event is down to the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) nurturing and developing young talent at a grassroots level.

Some of the shooters who claimed Gold include Jitu Rai (Men’s 10m Air Pistol), Anish Bhanwala (Men’s 25m Rapid Fire Pistol) and Heena Sidhu (Women’s 25m Pistol).

Other Silver and Bronze medal winners in shooting include Mehuli Ghosh (Women’s 10m Air Rifle), Om Mitharval (Men’s 50m Pistol, 10m Air Pistol) and Ravi Kumar (Men’s 10m Air Rifle).

Expect to see more success for the Indian shooting team at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

India’s 200+ team has exceeded the expectations of 1.3 billion people with their CWG performance in Australia.

When their athletes have not claimed medals at the CWG 2018, they have broken national records and set personal bests for their country.

There are reasons to be optimistic for Indian sport at the moment outside of cricket as new stars emerge and continue to make their mark in front of a worldwide audience.