The Birmingham Games 2022 was a dazzling 11-day long affair for India. This year’s campaign from India returned home with a whopping total of 61 medals- 22 in gold, 16 in silver, and 23 in bronze, resulting in India being the fifth best in the final medal tally.
So, what are the “Friendly Games” exactly? The Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games commenced on Thursday, July 28, and concluded on Monday, August 8. Dubbed the “Friendly Games”, the Commonwealth Games is an international event featuring over 50 competitive sporting events participated in by an endless list of previously British-occupied nations. England was set to host the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham for the third time, following Manchester in 2002 and London in 1934. Today, Australia has proved to be the team with the highest scores for 13 years. It is also said that since its inception in Ontario, Canada in 1930, only six teams—Australia, Canada, England, New Zealand, Scotland, and Wales—have competed in every Commonwealth Games.
This year’s quadrennial event has seen nearly 200 Indian athletes competing in 19 different sports. These include Athletics, Badminton, Basketball, Beach Volleyball, Bowls, Cricket (Women), Cycling, Gymnastics, Judo, Hockey, Netball, Rugby 7s, Squash, Table tennis, Triathlon, Weightlifting, and Wrestling. The 21st edition of the Commonwealth games saw the introduction of three new sports- 3×3 Basketball, Wheelchair Basketball, and Women’s 20-over Cricket. It was important to note the exclusion of shooting events that usually make up the bulk of Indian medals. The shooting also accounted for 16 of the total of 66 medals in the previous Games.
In the last edition, India won 66 medals overall at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, including 26 gold, 20 silver, and 20 bronze. India came in third place, behind England and Australia. The shooting team from India lead the country’s accomplishments at the CWG 2018, winning 16 medals. However, the shooting was pulled from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games schedule despite contributing 16 of the 66 medals at Gold Coast 2018. More than any other sport at the Commonwealth Games, shooting has contributed to 135 of India’s 564 total medals. This comprises the 30 medals Indian shooters took home from the 2010 CWG in New Delhi, which saw India experience their most successful CWG ever with a total of 101 medals earned.
This year had begun with a couple of drawbacks for India such as the absence of javelin star Neeraj Chopra due to injury and the elimination of the shooting schedule. However, things did not seem grim for long as faith in the rest of the Indian athletes stayed strong. Keeping our hopes up were Olympic medallists Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Bajarang Punia, and Sakshi Malik, as well as a potent badminton squad led by PV Sindhu, a two-time medallist at the Olympics, and medallists at the world championships Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen, helped India move up the medal standings in Birmingham. The aspirations of the country were also on the weightlifting team.
The opening ceremony of the commonwealth games saw PV Sindhu and Manpreet as the flag bearers. Sindhu had also carried the Indian flag during the 2018 Gold Coast Olympics, while Manpreet had carried the Indian flag during the opening ceremony of the Olympics in Tokyo.
In what has been a spectacular CWG for India, boxer Nikhat Zareen and table tennis player Sharath Kamal, both of whom won gold medals at Birmingham 2022, served as the nation’s flag bearers, for the closing ceremony.
Written by Esheka Kanodia
Edited by Marshaa Balani
