Commonwealth Games 2026: A campaign of contrasts for India

Glasgow drew the curtain on the 2026 Commonwealth Games on Sunday, and India walked away with 39 medals, including 13 gold to finish fourth overall in the standings.

On paper, that is a comedown from 61 medals in Birmingham four years ago. In substance, it is arguably a more honest measure of where Indian sport stands, because Glasgow's pared-down, ten-sport programme stripped away the wrestling, shooting, badminton, table tennis and hockey golds that padded previous tallies.

What remained was a leaner test, and India passed it with genuine distinction in pockets even as old weaknesses resurfaced in others.

Athletics

This was India's headline story with a total of ten medals. Neeraj Chopra returned from his 2022 injury lay-off with silver (85.83m), pipped by Sri Lanka's Rumesh Pathirage, while debutant Yash Vir Singh's late personal-best sealed a stirring javelin double-podium.

Gulveer Singh became the first Indian track-and-field athlete to win two individual medals at a single Games — silver in the 10,000m, bronze in the 5000m.

Sarvesh Kushare took high jump silver, Murali Sreeshankar repeated his long jump silver, and Tejaswin Shankar became India's first-ever Commonwealth decathlon medallist, competing through injury.

Praveen Chithravel and Selva Prabhu Thirumaran completed a triple jump double-podium, while Seema Kaliramna earned podium in women’s discus throw.

Boxing

The undisputed jewel of the campaign. India returned a record ten medals, including an unprecedented seven golds, the most won by any nation in the sport at a single Games.

Sakshi Chaudhary and Priya Ghanghas headlined a golden day, Arundhati Choudhary added a clinical title along with Ankush Panghal, Sachin Siwach, Preeti Pawar, and Jaismine Lamboria.

Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain claimed silver, much like Jadumani Singh and Narender Berwal.

This was India's finest Commonwealth boxing campaign in history, without a shadow of doubt.

Judo

A genuine breakthrough after decades of near-misses. Asmita Dey became India's first-ever Commonwealth Games judo champion, edging Canada's Heidi Quach in a Golden Score thriller at -48kg, before Harsh Singh doubled the joy with gold at -60kg.

Yamini Mourya added silver, while Unnati Sharma bagged bronze. Four medals, including two gold in a sport India had never stood on the top step of the podium.

Track Cycling

The velodrome remained a graveyard for Indian ambitions. Ronaldo Singh Laitonjam and David Beckham Elkatohchoongo generated headlines with improved timings but there were no podiums. Dinesh Kumar and Harshveer Singh Sekhon were eliminated in the points race.

Para Track Cycling

Sixteen-year-old Lisha Das, India's sole representative, failed to impress in any of the events after the long drawn of the field drama with the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).

Artistic Gymnastics

A forgettable Games. Of eight gymnasts sent, only Tapan Mohanty and Protistha Samanta reached finals, and scores fell well below domestic and Asian-level benchmarks. Pranati Nayak reportedly competed injured, raising legitimate questions about selection judgement. India's last CWG gymnastics medal remains 2014 and that wait continues.

Weightlifting

Mirabai Chanu was, once again, the closest thing to a certainty in Indian sport with a hat-trick of Commonwealth golds, a Games-record 190kg total in the 48kg category, and yet more proof of her extraordinary consistency.

Around her, Rishikanta Singh, Muthupandi Raja, Ajaya Babu, Gyaneshwari Yadav, Lovepreet Singh, Harjinder Kaur, and Mirabai Chanu combined for six silvers and a bronze, taking the discipline's tally to eight medals.

Para Athletics

The standout story of India's para campaign: six medals, three of them gold, ending a 20-year wait for an Indian para-athletics podium at these Games.

Dilip Gavit, Sharmila Dhankar and Soman Rana won titles, with three double-podium finishes across the men's 100m T47 and both shot put F57 events.

Para Powerlifting

Jhandu Kumar's bronze on the opening day — India's very first medal of Glasgow 2026 — was the lone bright spot from a seven-strong squad that came in with real medal hopes but largely lifted below personal bests.

Swimming & Para Swimming

A near-total blank. India's swimmers, drawn to wide outer lanes unfamiliar from domestic competition, performed well below their season-best timings across the board. No medals, and little to suggest imminent international competitiveness in near future.

Bowls

Birmingham's magic did not repeat. None of India's four entries reached the knockout rounds, with the men's pairs combination of Navneet Singh and Dinesh Kumar coming closest before elimination.

Glasgow 2026 was a Games of sharp contrasts — boxing, judo and para athletics delivering historic firsts, athletics posted a good tally, while cycling, gymnastics and swimming exposed how far those disciplines still lag.

For a slimmed-down, ten-sport edition, fourth place with 39 medals is a credible outcome. The real question, as always, is whether these breakthroughs translate into sustained investment before Ahmedabad hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2030; or whether, as with gymnastics and Bowls, the promise simply evaporates until the next cycle.