CWG 2022: Here’s the full list of Indian athletes participating at Birmingham Commonwealth Games

PV Sindhu, Mirabai Chanu, Nikhat Zareen, Lovlina Borgohain, Ravi Kumar Dahiya, Bajrang Punia, Vinesh Phogat, Kidambi Srikanth, Lakshya Sen, and the hockey, table tennis and cricket teams will be among the star names for India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

India won a total of 66 medals – 26 gold, 20 silver, and 20 bronze – at the 2018 CWG in Gold Coast, although 16 of those medals came in shooting which won’t be a part of the games this time around. Shooting, athletics, badminton, boxing, para powerlifting, squash, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling were the sports in which India won medals in 2018.

As compared to 16 at Gold Coast 2018, India will field athletes in 19 different sports this time around in Birmingham.

The most successful CWG for India happened when they hosted the games in New Delhi in 2010. They won a total of 101 medals back then. However, each of India’s next three most successful campaigns came overseas – Manchester 2002 (69 medals), Gold Coast 2018 (66 medals) and Glasgow 2014 (64 medals).

In the absence of shooting, there will be hopes on badminton, wrestling, boxing and weightlifting to prop up India’s medal tally.

Here’s a look at the full Indian contingent for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham:

Athletics

Neeraj Chopra will undoubtedly be missed big-time in India’s athletics squad. After winning a historic gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year, he showed his class again with a silver at the Athletics World Championships recently. But the 24-year-old injured his groin during the event in Oregon and decided to skip the CWG this time, where he would have competed as the defending champion. However, India do have a large athletics contingent for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games. Seema Punia, Annu Rani, M Sreeshankar, Eldhose Paul and Jyothi Yarraji are among the names to watch out for. Medals might not be possible for many of the rising athletes in the contingent but athletics at CWG is usually a tough field and it will be a great place to see where some of them stand.

And while the build-up was marred by many controversies surrounding Indian athletics, high jump national record holder Tejaswin Shankar does finally feature in the list and could be in contention for a place on the podium.

Badminton

PV Sindhu is the most decorated player in the Indian contingent. The former world champion and two-time Olympic medallist will lead the charge in women’s singles, while the experienced Ashwini Ponnappa will look to make a mark in the doubles. In the men’s side, four of the five members played a key role in the historic Thomas Cup triumph earlier this year. Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen edged out the in-form HS Prannoy for the singles spots based on the rankings criteria and will be keen to put step up on the big stage again. All eyes will also be on Satwik-Chirag, who had a breakthrough campaign in 2018, winning silver. Keep an eye out for the young doubles pairing of Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, who had a fantastic start to the year.

Squash

The experienced trio of Joshna Chinappa, Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Saurav Ghoshal will once again spearhead India’s challenge in squash. In 2018, India won two medals in squash – Dipika and Saurav won a silver in mixed doubles (it was the first mixed doubles medal in squash at CWG for India), while Dipika and Joshna won silver in women’s doubles.

In 14-year-old Anahat Singh, India have an exciting young talent to look out for.

Boxing

Lovlina Borgohain, with a Tokyo Olympics bronze medal, and Nikhat Zareen, the reigning world champion, are definitely two of the brightest medal prospects in India’s boxing squad. Among the men, there is plenty of experience with Amit Panghal and Shiva Thapa in the mix.

Hockey

Indian hockey experienced its biggest high in years at the Tokyo Olympics last year. While the men’s team won a memorable bronze, the women’s team reached an Olympics semifinal for the first time. Since then, both the men’s and women’s teams finished third in the FIH Pro League. The women’s team couldn’t reach the quarterfinals at the recently-concluded World Cup but has taken significant strides over the past years and will be confident of doing well in Birmingham. At the 2018 CWG, both the men’s and women’s teams had missed out on a medal after losing their respective bronze medal matches.

Table Tennis

India dominated in tables tennis at the Gold Coast Games and will be determined to prove their mettle again. In 2018, India finished at the top of the medals tally in TT with eight medals from nine events. Manika Batra will look to defend her women’s singles gold this time around while the experienced duo of Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran will lead the charge for the men’s team.

Weightlifting

All eyes will be on Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu as far as India’s weightlifting challenge is concerned. The 27-year-old was brilliant at CWG the last time around and returned with a gold medal. Punam Yadav and Vikas Thakur, who won gold and bronze respectively at Gold Coast, are also part of the squad for Birmingham. India won nine medals in weightlifting in 2018 and although there’s a new-look squad this time, they will be confident of doing well again. Watch out for Achinta Sheuli and Youth Olympic Games medallist Jeremy as well.

Wrestling

India have three Olympic medallists in the wrestling squad for Birmingham – Ravi Kumar Dahiya (Tokyo silver), Bajrang Punia (Tokyo bronze) and Sakshi Malik (Rio bronze). At the 2018 CWG, India won an impressive 12 medals at a 100% strike rate, including five gold. Bajrang and Vinesh Phogat were among the ones who won gold medals, while Sakshi and Divya Kakran had won bronze. The squad this time looks a lot different than the one four years ago but the firepower remains. It will be interesting to see if Sakshi Malik continues her resurgence, among other storylines to follow.

Cricket

Cricket will be featuring at the CWG for just the second time. After the men’s 50-over competition in 1998, this time it will be the women’s teams competing in the T20 format. India missed out on qualifying for the semifinals of the ODI World Cup earlier this year – the last multi-nation tournament – and will be keen to make a mark in Birmingham. They are placed in Group A along with Australia, Pakistan and Barbados.

Para-Powerlifting

At the 2018 CWG in Gold Coast, India’s only para medal came in this sport with Sachin Chaudhary winning a bronze in the men’s heavyweight event.

Swimming

Para-Swimming

Para-Athletics

Para-Table Tennis

All eyes here will be on Tokyo Paralympics silver medallist Bhavina Patel.

Cycling

After a good showing at the recent Asian championships, the cyclists will look to continue their good performances in CWG as well.

Gymnastics

Judo

Triathlon

Lawn Bowls

Follow Scroll.in’s coverage of Birmingham 2022 here

Names in this list as provided by Sports Authority of India