Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur congratulated the Indian contingent for their great performances in the recently-concluded Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham.
India finished 4th in the medal tally with 22 Gold, 16 Silver and 23 Bronze medals and with a total of 61 medals at the Commonwealth Games.
"I congratulate the Indian players who have won medals in the Commonwealth Games 2022. 61 medals have been bagged by Indian players. Athletes have set new records. Prime Minister Narendra Modi would continue to boost their morale as they return to India," said Thakur to ANI.
India has delivered its fifth-best performance of all time in their Commonwealth Games history, with their best being a total of 101 medals when the games were held at home in 2010.However, achieving 61 medals this time around holds a lot of significance since shooting, which is India's most successful discipline historically with 135 medals, was not included in the games this time. The numbers could have been way higher had it been included.
The Indian contingent also saw some first-time medals like in lawn bowls and cricket. Notably, the women's cricket team was sent as a part of the contingent. India lost to Australia by a narrow margin of nine runs in a thrilling final.
Also, the Indian Lawn Bowls team consisting of Rupa Rani Tirkey, Nayanmoni Saikia, Lovely Choubey and Pinki Singh created history by winning its first-ever medal in the sport, capturing Gold by defeating South Africa by 17-10 in the final of the women's fours event. Men's fours team also clinched a silver later.
India dominated contact and strength-based sports of weightlifting, wrestling and boxing. The country's contingent won 12 medals in wrestling, its most successful sport in the 2022 edition of the multi-sport event. India captured medals in every category in which its stars wrestled. This includes six gold medals as well by Bajrang Punia, Ravi Dahiya, Deepak Punia, Sakshi Malik, Vinesh Phogat and Naveen.
India won 10 medals in weightlifting, including three golds by Mirabai Chanu, Achinta Sheuli and Jeremy Lalrinnunga.
Indian boxers won a total of seven medals in boxing. This includes gold by Amit Panghal, Nitu Ghangas and Nikhat Zareen.
In athletics, the nation's athletes won a total of eight medals. It includes gold by Eldhose Paul in the men's triple jump. Avinash Sable (silver in men's 3000 m steeplechase), Annu Rani (bronze in women's javelin throw), Murali Sreeshankar (silver in men's long jump) were some other prominent medal winners.
India won quite a few medals in racquet sports as well. Seven medals came in table tennis, which includes four gold medals by Achanta Sharath Kamal in men's singles, men's team, para table tennis player Bhavina Patel and the mixed duo of Sharath Kamal and Sreeja Akula.
Badminton stars of India clinched six medals in the sport. PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen won gold in the men's and women's singles category while the men's doubles team of Chirag Shetty and Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy also won gold.
India's hockey teams also returned home with medals. The men's team won silver while the women's team is coming back home with a bronze.
The country also won three medals in judo, with Shushila Devi and Tulika Mann capturing silver medals and Vijay Kumar Yadav winning a bronze medal.
The Squash contingent also returned home with two bronze medals. Saurav Ghosal won one in men's singles while the other in mixed doubles with Dipika Pallikal.
Also, para-powerlifter Sudhir captured India's first gold in para-powerlifting.
The Commonwealth Games 2022 came to an end with a stunning closing ceremony at the Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Monday. The Commonwealth Games flag was presented to the Governor of Victoria. The state of Victoria, Australia will be the next host of the Commonwealth Games in 2026.
( With inputs from ANI )
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