By: Mohit Singhal
CWG 2022: Commonwealth Games have returned after 4 years, this time in Birmingham. What’s better to celebrate the freedom of India from Britishers than to hoist our tricolour in England?
The Indian contingent is all set to raise the bar of Indian sports once again after their astonishing medal tally of 64 in the previous CWG at Gold Coast. This time they are going to the games with more expectations from themselves and from citizens sitting here in India after a splendid show at Tokyo Olympics last year.
However, just before 2 days of commencement of the Games, India suffered a major setback to their medal tally when Neeraj Chopra was ruled out of the games after suffering a groin strain during his silver medal-winning run in the World Championships couple of days back.
Earlier, the Tokyo Olympics Gold Medalist Neeraj was chosen as the flag bearer of the Indian contingent owing to his successful run as an athlete over the past 6 months.
But now as he is out of the tournament, Indian star Shuttler and two-time Olympic Medalist PV Sindhu is appointed as the flag bearer of the Indian team. Mirabai Chanu too was in the contention of being the flag bearer but due to her match the other day, it was Sindhu who was given this responsibility.
To enhance the superiority of this all-important tournament, one more sport has been introduced into the games, i.e. Women’s Cricket. This time women in blue too will be in action which will attract more viewers from India and the sub-continent where Cricket as a game is highly rated.
Indian cricket team will face the Australian team on July 29 which will be the biggest challenge for the 2017 World Cup runner-ups. After that, they will face their arch-rivals Pakistan on July 31. Following this, they will be up against Barbados Women’s team on August 3.
The final of the Women’s Cricket will be played on August 7 at Edgbaston cricket ground, Birmingham.
India’s sporting standard other than cricket is going up with each passing event. With more and more people bringing medals and laurels on the international stage, many youths are encouraged and taking up sports as their professional career.
India’s medal hopes will certainly lie down to the Indian Badminton players who have played excellently for the past few months including the Thomas Cup triumph.
With the exclusion of Neeraj, India’s hopes in Javelin Throw will rely on DP Manu and Rohit Yadav. Manu is in fact the 4th best javelin thrower in the country and can mark up to 84 m.
Tokyo Olympic silver medalist Mirabai Chanu is high on expectations for a medal in weight lifting.
Hima Das and Dutee Chand will also eye medals in their respective athletic competitions while 14-year-old Anahat Singh is an exciting talent to look out for in Squash.
In Boxing, Lovlina Borgohain, who is a silver medal winner, and Nikhat Zareen, a world champion are the brightest medal prospect to look out for.
It will be exciting to see India’s men’s and women’s respective Hockey teams in CWG games. The men’s team is the Tokyo Olympic bronze medal winner while the women’s team reached the semi-final for the very first time in that Olympics.
In table tennis, the doubles of Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Manika Batra are the ones to watch out for owing to their bonding during the game. They are in the top 10 of the world rankings too which makes them high contenders for medal win.
Though whatever may be the result Indian sports is touching the sky with each tournament and the future of sports will be bright. Thanks to the Government of India to look into the other sports as well through their initiative of Khelo India Youth Games and various other leagues.
