CWG: India finish 4th with 61 medals, win four gold on final day as hockey team disappoints

New Delhi, August 8, 2022

On a day when shuttlers rained gold for India, winning three of them Australia crashed into the party humbling the men in blue 7-0 in the men's hockey final, taking away a bit of sheen from the celebrations as the country finished 4th in the medal tally with 61 medals - 22 Gold, 16 Silver and 23 Bronze-in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games that concluded today.

Even though India couldn’t surpass their tally (66) from the Gold Coast Games in 2018, considering shooting was not included in this edition, it has been an excellent performance by the Indian contingent in Birmingham.

India finished the last day on an absolute medal rush by securing four gold, one silver and one bronze.

Much was expected from the Manpreet Singh-led hockey side but they simply caved in without a fight against the rampaging Australians conceding seven goals without scoring even once. The Indians also failed to earn a single penalty corner and that left their fans who had packed the stadium totally disappointed. It was not the defeat but the manner the men in blue caved in that hurt.

Otherwise on the last day the shuttlers were outstanding throughout the games as they secured 6 medals (3 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze) in the 6 categories with only Mixed Doubles missing out.

P. V. Sindhu started the day by securing the first gold, beating seasoned Canadian Michelle Lee in straight sets (21-15, 21-13). Lakshya Sen showed grit to come from behind to beat the in-form Malaysian Tze Yong Ng in three sets (19-21, 21-9, 21-16).

In the Men's Doubles final, the pair of Satwik Sairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty made light work of the English pairing of Ben Lane and Sean Vendy 21-15, 21-13.

In Table Tennis, Achanta Sharath Kamal established himself as a CWG legend after he secured gold in the singles. This is his 3rd Gold Medal of the games and his 4th in total. Sharath has won a total of 13 medals in Commonwealth Games. He beat Liam Pitchford of England in five games (11-13, 11-7, 11-2, 11-6, 11-8).

Earlier Sathiyan Gnanasekaran had secured bronze in the Men’s Singles making it a 1 – 3 in the Men’s Singles after beating Englishman Paul Drinkhall in a nail-biting encounter in 7 games (11-9, 11-3, 11-5, 8-11, 9-11,10-12,11-9).

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games has been a brilliant spectacle and at the closing ceremony the Indian contingent will be led out by Achanta Sharath Kamal and Nikhat Zareen.

NNN