Fixed List, How Many Medals India will Win Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022
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- With the Birmingham Commonwealth Games all set to start later on Thursday, one needs to take stock of India’s potential prospects in the event, even as the absence of Neeraj Chopra seems to have left a lot of followers in a dismay, which, though understandable, is a little overstated, simply because Chopra is but one name in the 205-strong contingent, and given that the Commonwealth Games are not really of the level of a world even, the Olympics, or even the Ascian Games, medals should not only be expected but demanded of many athletes who are touted as champions at home.
- Chopra for sure would have been among the medals at Birmingham, though a gold was not a given, since Anderson Peters of Grenada, who claimed the Oregon World Athletics Championship title, is also head for the CWG. Also Read - CWG 2022: India's Teenage Squash Sensation Anahat Singh Ready For Biggest Stage.
- But events like badminton, with PV Sindhu now also the flag-bearer for the Indian contingent at the opening ceremony, should be expected to land medals in all the events – men’s and women’s singles, doubles and also mixed doubles – since with the line-up of Sindhu, Ashwini Ponappa, Aakarshi Kashyap, Treesa Jolly and Gayatri Gopichand, and the men boasting Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and B. Sumeeth Reddy, there is no reason that India shouldn’t be on top of the podium in all the events.
- The opposition will essentially come from Malaysia and Singapore from the Asian quarters, while England are always competitive on their turf. That said, India should surely be deemed favourites if reputation and current form are any considerations.
- Sindhu will seek an improvement over her 2018 Gold Coast Games silver while the men need to show that their Thomas Cup victory wasn’t a fluke.
- Wrestling is another strength for India and once more, we will see the calibre of Vinesh Phogat and Sakshi Malik, while Bajrang Punia will lead the men’s challenge.
- Also, teams like table tennis will not meet too much opposition, so this will surely be another opportunity to see whether all the hype surrounding Manika Batra, Achanta Sharath Kamal and Sathiyan Gnanasekaran is justified or not. They won eight medals in 2018, so that number should be expected, with the hue of the metal being closer to golden.
- The difficult ones will be athletics, boxing and hockey, both men’s and women’s. While the men are surely expected to make it to the semi-finals without a hitch, with teams like Ghana, Canada and Wales to beat, with only England coming as a challenge in the group stage, the semis will set them off against possibly Australia, which is where the challenge will be.
- The women too play the same teams in their group, so there too, it will surely be a battle for the semis and beyond.
- Boxing will pit the Indians against the entire British Isles, as well as the African nations like Uganda and Nigeria, so that won’t be an easy trip. Any success here should be truly acknowledged.
- Athletics will see some of the names like Avinash Sable (3000m steeplechase) the much-discussed Tejaswin Shankar (men’s high jump) and M. Sreekumar (men’s long jump), will see action, but the track events won’t be easy. Even a second line Kenyan, Ugandan or Nigerian team will be challenge, not to mention the British. The names like Hima Das and Dutee Chand appear only in the relays.
- India always does well in the CWG, and all things considered, this shouldn’t be too different. One hopes there are more performances and less excuses, at least on this level of competition.
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