India at CWG 2022: With 13 medals in its kitty, India looks forward to a dominating spot in medal tally

India added four medals on the fifth day of Commonwealth Games 2022 (CWG 2022) in Birmingham taking the overall medal haul to 13. With yet another fruitful day for India as they added four medals to the tally with one gold coming from the Men’s double table tennis team, the country has set its eyes for more medals to secure a dominating spot on the medal tally.

The 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games started in Birmingham, England on 28th July, and will be continuing till 8th August, 2022. India is participating for the 18th time in the Commonwealth Games and is already picking up medals in major sports.

Celebrations and merry-making broke out after Mirabai Chanu became the first Indian to win gold at the CWG 2022, while breaking a national record. On the other hand, Jeremy Lalrinnunga was the first Indian man to clinch the gold medal in Men’s 67 kg weightlifting at Birmingham. India’s winning streak continued as the women’s lawn bowls quartet won gold for the first time in the CWG 2022, defeating South Africa in the final.

As on August 3, 2022, India has won 5 gold medals in lawn bowls, weightlifting, table tennis, and badminton, respectively. Along with two silver medals in weightlifting and one silver medal in badminton, India earned one gold medal each in table tennis and lawn bowls.

With Gopichand standing on the Commonwealth Games podium for the first time in 24 years, India's mixed badminton team won the silver medal. In Men's 96 kg Weightlifting, Vikas Thakur took home the silver medal. India's men's table tennis team defeated Singapore 3-1 to claim the gold medal. India was able to keep their gold medal at the Commonwealth Games, thanks to victories by G Sathiyan and Harmeet Desai in their respective doubles and singles table tennis matches.

India is maintaining a commanding position, ranked 6th in the CWG 2022 medal tally, with Australia positioned at the top of the scoreboard with 42 gold, 32 silver and 32 bronze medals taking the total tally to 106.

With positive confidence exhibited by the players at the CWG 2022, India has set its eyes to grab more medals until 8th August and rise in the medal tally.

Celebrations began in the country when the terrific Mirabai Chanu from Manipur grabbed the first gold medal in weightlifting, thus continuing her purple patch at the quadrennial event. Mirabai had won a gold medal at the Commonwealth Games 2018 as well.

Mirabai’s family members were on cloud nine after her gold medal win as neighbours, relatives and family members broke out into an euphoric dance, a video that has gone viral after the weightlifter from Manipur shared on her personal social media handles.

The same enthusiasm and celebrations was witnessed in Assam’s Nayanmoni Saikia’s case who along with her team of four won the first ever gold in the lawn bowls event for the country in the CWG, 2022.

Nayanmoni, a weightlifter who hails from Tengabari village in Golaghat district, Assam, began her career in weightlifting but had to give it up due to a leg injury. Later, the 33-year-old athlete switched to lawn bowls and put up some incredible performances in several national and international competitions. The athlete won two gold medals in the Asian Lawn Bowls Championship in addition to winning gold at the National Games in 2011 and 2015.

As India set its eyes for more medals to better its ranking in the scoreboard, there are few more strong contenders including Assam’s Lovlina Borgohain and Hima Das as medal hopes for CWG 2022.