The Commonwealth Games at the Gold Coast is upon us. Historically, the CWG has been India’s favourite hunting ground in the international arena, and serves as a platform for Olympic preparation.
Since the inception of the games in 1930, India has won 436 medals with nearly half of these medals coming in the last three games. India’s most successful games were in 2010 at New Delhi, hauling in 101 medals across disciplines and finishing second on the medals tally for the first and only time so far.
The majority of India’s medals come from a select few sports. India’s shooters have won 120 medals since 1982 and are the most successful when it comes to the quadrennial event. A significant portion of these medals have come in team events. And given shooting is a sport India has excelled in internationally on a regular basis, across multiple disciplines, means this should come as no surprise.
India has also excelled in weightlifting and wrestling at the games, taking a sizeable chunk of the medals over the years.
India’s first medal at the games was won by Rashid Anwar. He won the bronze medal in welterweight wrestling at the 1930 games.
By and large, the variation of sports is few and far between. India’s medals have come predominantly from shooting, weightlifting and wrestling events. Since the turn of the century, India has found success with its singles badminton players. This can be seen not only at the Commonwealth Games, but also at the world stage. And in Gold Coast, we have arguably the strongest contingent of Indian badminton players at the games.
An anomaly of sorts is India’s success in the discus throw event. Four Indian athletes have won eight medals since the 2002 games. Vikas Gowda has won two medals winning the gold at Glasgow and Seema Punia has won three medals, but has failed to finish on the top of the podium.
Even the most successful athletes are restricted to the shooters, weightlifters and wrestlers. Ten shooters have won more four or more medals at the games. Jaspal Rana has won 15 medals in his shooting career.
Two weightlifters feature in the list of most successful Indian athletes at the games - one that also sees paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal make an appearance.
Gender break up of Indian medallists at the games shows that traditionally men have dominated when it comes to podium finishes, but as we explained in an earlier data story, Indian women have consistently upped their performances since the turn of the century - as can be seen by 36 medals overall in the Delhi Games.
Now that you have finished crunching the numbers in your head, take a shot at this quiz, celebrating India’s achievements at the Commonwealth Games.
Editors note: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that India had won 438 medals at the Commonwealth Games. Indian athletes have claimed 436 medals.
