India at CWG 2022: Gold rush expected in weightlifting, wrestling; hockey teams hope to end medal drought
India at CWG 2022: Gold rush expected in weightlifting, wrestling; hockey teams hope to end medal drought
Following the postponement of many major tournaments, we finally have the 2022 Commonwealth Games going ahead as per schedule as the quadrennial event opens in Birmingham on Thursday night. The gala event will see 215 Indian athletes, along with flagbearer PV Sindhu, walk through the Alexander Stadium in front of a packed crowd. With a medal haul of 66 in 2018 Gold Coast, the strong Indian contingent still will have a tough time matching the figure with shooting and archery not included.
To further dent India's medal hopes, Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra won't get to defend his title after opting out of the event with a groin injury that happened during the World Athletics Championships. Still, there are other newly-included disciplines where Indian athletes are expected to leave their mark as we go through all of them.
Weightlifting: Mirabai and Co push for a record haul
Mirabai Chanu-led Indian weightlifting team will be pushing for another strong gold medal haul as they look to better their last edition's haul of five gold.
The 15-member team is without three gold medallists from Gold Coast but it has little bearing on their medal ambitions with several Commonwealth high rankers in the medal fray.
We are ready for Commonwealth Games 2022 Birmingham @birminghamcg22 pic.twitter.com/VR4zwyQU1v
— Saikhom Mirabai Chanu (@mirabai_chanu) July 28, 2022
Also, falling in line with the Olympic rule of top athlete per nation in each category meant Indian lifters would be at further ease; especially with six Pakistani lifters getting provisionally banned for flunking the dope test.
National coach Vijay Sharma has shown a lot of confidence in his men's team as he expects them to fare better than women's team in Birmingham.
Among prominent faces in the men's team are 2018 Youth Olympic champion Jeremy Lalrinnunga (67kg) and Achinta Seuli (73kg).
For the first time, the plus category (109kg+) has a strong representative in Gurdeep Singh, who may break India's duck in the category.
Same goes for Purnima Pandey (87kg+), who may end the Indian women's team drought in the plus category.
As far as Mirabai is concerned, she is a massive favourite for the gold medal again with the competition not of the Olympic silver medallist's level. She instead has been working on her weaknesses in build-up to the World Championships in Colombia.
Wrestling: Sakshi Malik's return to a major event
2016 Olympic bronze medallist Sakshi Malik has revived her career by defeating breakout star Sonam Malik at the 62kg CWG trials to book her Birmingham ticket. She will be accompanied by senior grappler Vinesh Phogat in the team as well as the star-studded Indian team will be expected to grab medals in all the freestyle categories.
Alike weightlifting, Indian wrestlers enjoy dominance among Commonwealth nations with massive 102 medals, including 43 gold, at the quadrennial event.
The men's wrestling team, no dissimilar to that of the women's, boasts of Indian wrestling heavyweights in the Tokyo Olympic medallist duo of Ravi Kumar Dahiya and Bajrang Punia. Another big name in Deepak Punia, who missed a medal in Tokyo by a whisker, will also be looking to break his gold medal duck at the CWG.
Boxing: Lovlina Borgohain's coach complaints overshadow pugilists' preparation
Tokyo bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain finally had her way on Wednesday when BFI and SAI agreed to her wishes to adding her personal coach Sandhya Gurung late to the squad. The coach was included on the expense of national women's coach Bhaskar Bhatt, who voluntary agreed to leave the Games village to accommodate Gurung.
Athletes' grievances of adding their personal coaches to the squad has been never-ending, especially at the CWG, which only allows 33 per cent of staff in comparison to a nation's total athlete contingent.
truly thank@ianuragthakur sir and @IndiaSports, and @Media_SAI for the prompt and
rapid action to Include my
Coach Sandhya Gurung's
name in CWG acred.also grateful for SAl for
constant support for my
training since my youth.
Thank you once again to all
who have truly helped me— Lovlina Borgohain (@LovlinaBorgohai) July 26, 2022
Apart from Borgohain, world champion Nikhat Zareen (50kg) will be India's best bet among women boxers. The other two women boxers to qualify are Nitu Ghangas (48kg) and Jaismine Lamboria (60kg).
The men's team, on the other hand, has eight boxers qualifying for CWG with former world No 1 Amit Panghal (52kg) and Shiva Thapa (63.5kg) among notable names.
Among other medal hopefuls are Mohammed Hussamuddin (57kg) and Rohit Tokas (67kg) with the former also bagging bronze at 2018 Gold Coast. The team will also see the team's youngest boxer in 19-year-old Sumit Kundu make his Games debut in the 75kg category.
Athletics: Neeraj Chopra withdrawal, dope-positive athletes dampen the mood
The news of India's favourite Olympic star Neeraj Chopra opting out of CWG due to a groin injury has disappointed the Indian fans, who wanted to see the 2018 gold medallist defend his title against rival and world champion Anderson Peters.
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) July 26, 2022
In his absence, the onus will fall on DP Manu and Rohit Yadav to fill in the big shoes. The Indian track and field contingent, in fact, is going through a troubled phase with four athletes caught in the dope net.
This, unfortunately, included expected future sprint star S Dhanalakshmi, who defeated Hima Das and Dutee Chand at the domestic events to become the fastest woman in the country. The other three athletes to flunk the dope test reportedly were relay 100m runner MV Jilna and jumper Aishwarya Babu.
The story is no different with the para-athletics team as Aneesh Kumar ( para discus thrower) and Geeta ( para powerlifter) also returned dope positive.
Medal hopes will be still there from the likes of long jumper M Sreeshankar, who leads the pack despite missing out on a medal at the Worlds.
3000m steeplechaser Avinash Sable, on the other hand, will face a stiff challenge with hordes of African runners competing.
Badminton and Table Tennis: Aim to repeat history
The star-studded badminton and table tennis teams will look to repeat the history 0f the last edition of the CWG. PV Sindhu-led Indian badminton side won six medals in total, two gold medals, and are expected to go better with medal hopes in all the categories. Women's doubles specialist Ashwini Ponnappa is expected to play a key role in the mixed team event while Sindhu, Lakshya Sen, and Kidambi Srikanth are strong medal contenders in the singles event.
The men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty too is in the run for the gold. Other members in the team include chief national coach Pullela Gopichand's daughter Gayathri Gopichand, along with Treesha Jolly, Aakarshi Kashyap among others.
The same goes for Manika Batra-led table tennis side that came into the limelight in Gold Coast with Manika starring for the team with two gold out of the seven medals. The men's team also includes veteran Achanta Sharath Kamal, G Sathiyan among higher-ranked star names, and will be vital to India's medal chances.
However, with the TTFI going under administration months before the CWG, the turbulence hasn't been ideal for the paddlers preparing for the mega event. To make it worse, some athletes also knocked on the door of the Indian judiciary, blaming TTFI of not following their set guidelines.
Squash: Top Indian squash players in medal run
Indian squash federation (SRFI) have sent their best team for the CWG as reigning women's doubles and mixed doubles champions, Saurav Ghosal, Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa compete at the quadrennial event.
Apart from the doubles event, Ghosal is expected to be in the run for singles medal as well as he reached Tournament of Champions semis earlier this year before ending wait for the singles title at Malaysia Open last year.
The team notably includes the youngest member of the entire Indian contingent in Anahat Singh, who makes her senior debut in Birmingham and will compete in both singles and women's doubles formats.
Cricket: Harmanpreet-led side aim to create history
Cricket returns to the Commonwealth Games after more than two decades. The women's T20 format will be featured at the Games for the first time as the Harmanpreet Kaur-led side will aim for their first gold medal. The team will be without recently-retired Mithali Raj and veteran pacer Jhulan Goswami. Harmanpreet and Co will still fancy their chances with their impressive show in the shortest format recently.
Men’s hockey team captain Manpreet Singh to be the co-flag bearer of the Indian contingent at Commonwealth Games 2022!
What's Your Reaction?
