A haul of 22 gold medals and a fourth-place finish behind Australia (67 golds), England (57) and Canada (26) may point to an underwhelming show by India at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. But scratch the surface, and the picture is certainly encouraging, if not entirely rosy. Compared to the 2018 Gold Coast event (where India finished third), India won four fewer golds this time; and it was 17 fewer than in the 2010 meet in Delhi. This discrepancy is explained easily enough. The Birmingham Games didn't have shooting, India's strong forte, in its list of events. India also had won a sizable number of medals in archery, tennis and Greco-Roman wrestling in the past. None of these sports were part of the Birmingham edition. But India did well to earn medals from some other sports -- cricket, lawn bowls, judo.
India continued to rule the roost in wrestling, which contributed 12 medals, including six golds, to the total tally, while boxing and weightlifting provided plenty of joy, too. The table tennis and badminton players lived up to expectations. However, what really delighted followers of Indian sport was the success in athletics, both on the track and in the field events. Indian athletes came away with eight medals from track and field, including a historic 1-2 finish in the triple jump, compared to just three in Gold Coast. Though it's definitely an achievement, it shouldn't be lost on anyone that the CWG are a rung below in the pecking order when it comes to the quality of competition in global multi-sport events. The Olympics, the World Championships and the Asian Games are far more competitive, when all major sporting superpowers, such as the US, China and several European heavyweights, are in the fray. It should also be noted that top athletes from Caribbean island-nations like Jamaica hardly take part in the CWG. On many occasions, athletes are not tested against the best even within the CWG fold.
Just to put things in perspective, Australia, the most dominant force in CWG by a distance, is one of the major powers in swimming, which contributed nine golds to its tally of 17 yellow metals in the last Olympics in Tokyo. India drew a blank in the discipline, though Srihari Nataraj turned in several excellent laps in the backstroke. While Indian athletes are nowhere near the best in events like swimming, cycling and the sprints, they also face stiff competition in the disciplines they are good at in the Olympics and the Asian Games. While the Birmingham CWG is certainly a feel-good story, athletes and administrators know India has a long way to go before it is recognised as a major, versatile sporting nation.