2022 Commonwealth Games: 15 interesting facts about India at CWG

With less than a week left for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, we take a look at 15 facts involving India at the showpiece.

1. India’s first CWG medallist was wrestler Rashid Anwar at the 1934 edition of the event in London. That was also India’s maiden entry at the Games.

2. Only six Indian athletes participated in the 1934 Commonwealth Games.

3. The six-member Indian contingent at the 1934 Commonwealth Games took part in only athletics and wrestling disciplines.

Also read: Commonwealth Games 2022: IOA names 322-member Indian contingent

4. India had to wait until 1958 for its first gold at the Games when the legendary Milkha Singh clinched the yellow metal in Cardiff.

5. The duo of Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakar Singh became the first Indian women to win a CWG medal when they bagged bronze at the 1978 edition of the event in Edmonton, Canada.

6. Discus thrower Krishna Poonia clinched India’s second gold medal in athletics at the 2010 CWG in Delhi, 52 years after Milkha Singh’s historic feat.

7. Shooter Roopa Unnikrishnan wrote her name in history books when she became the first Indian woman to clinch a CWG gold in the women’s 50m rifle prone event during the 1998 edition of the tournament in Kuala Lumpur.

8. So far, India has bagged a total of 503 medals in its Commonwealth Games history.

9. India returned home medal-less from the CWG only on two occasions – 1938 (Sydney) and 1954 (Vancouver).

10. Delhi beat Edmonton by a margin of 46-22 to clinch the hosting rights of the 2010 edition of the Commonwealth Games.

11. BR Chopra’s Mahabharat’s late Praveen Kumar Sobti won a medal for India at the 1966 edition of the Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, when he bagged silver in the men’s hammer throw.

12. India has never finished outside the top five of the medal tally since the 2002 edition of the Games in Manchester.

13. Discus thrower Ranjith Kumar became the first Indian para-athlete to win a CWG medal when he bagged bronze during the 2006 edition.

14. The most successful Indian athlete at the CWG to this date is shooter Jaspal Rana, who has won 15 medals in the multi-sport extravaganza.

15. A strong 322-member Indian contingent will be taking part in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The country’s biggest contingent was during the Delhi Games in 2010 when a total of 495 athletes took part in it.