30 days to 2022 Commonwealth Games – 30 facts about India at CWG

Here, we look at 30 interesting facts about India at the Commonwealth Games.

1. India made its Commonwealth Games debut during its second edition in 1934 when it was called the British Empire Games.
2. India finished 12^th overall in its CWG debut with a solitary bronze medal.
3. India's first Commonwealth Games medal was bagged by wrestler Rashid Anwar in 1934.
4. The Indian contingent for the 1934 Commonwealth Games consisted of just six athletes.
5. India only competed in athletics and wrestling during their Commonwealth Games debut in 1934.
6. India won its first Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1958 when Milkha Singh was crowned the 440-yard run champion.
7. India had to then wait until 2010 for their second athletics gold medal at the Commonwealth Games before women's discus thrower Krishna Poonia broke the jinx in 2010 at Delhi.
8. Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakar Singh became the first Indian women to win a Commonwealth Games medal when they bagged the badminton women's doubles bronze in 1978.
9. Roopa Unnikrishnan became the first Indian woman to bag a Commonwealth Games gold when she struck gold in the Women's 50m Rifle Prone event during the 1998 edition in Kuala Lumpur.
10. India has returned medal-less only twice from the Commonwealth Games – 1938 and 1954.
11. India has had representation in 17 editions of the Commonwealth Games so far.
12. India has been absent from 4 editions of the Commonwealth Games – 1930, 1950, 1962 and 1986.
13. India has, so far, won a total of 503 medals in its Commonwealth Games history.
14. India stands fourth in the overall Commonwealth Games medal tally history behind Australia, England and Canada.
15. India hosted the Commonwealth Games for the first and only time in 2010 in Delhi.
16. Delhi beat Hamilton, Canada – the city which hosted the inaugural Commonwealth Games in 1930, by a margin of 46 votes to 22 to bag the hosting rights for the 2010 edition.
17. The 2010 Delhi Games was India's most successful campaign in Commonwealth Games history with a total of 101 medals.
18. India finished 2^nd overall in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games with 38 gold medals – their best-ever finish.
19. The city of Pune hosted the Commonwealth Youth Games in 2008 – two years before India actually hosted the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
20. India hit the 10-medal mark in a single edition of the Commonwealth Games for the first time in the year 1966 in Kingston, Jamaica.
21. Mahabharat actor Praveen Kumar won a silver medal for India in men's hammer throw at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.
22. India has won more than 50 medals in each edition of the Commonwealth Games starting from the 2002 Manchester Games.
23. India has always finished in the top 5 of the overall standings starting from the 2002 edition.
24. India has won a whopping 135 medals, including 63 gold medals in shooting at the Commonwealth Games.
25. India's only medal in swimming at the Commonwealth Games was clinched by para-swimmer Prasanta Karmakar in the 2010 New Delhi Games.
26. Ranjith Kumar became the first Indian para-athlete to win a Commonwealth Games medal when he bagged bronze in discus throw during the 2006 Melbourne Games.
27. India's youngest gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games is a matter of controversy with shooter Anish Bhanwala (2018 – 25m Rapid Pistol) and Ved Prakash (1970 – Wrestling) being at centre of it.
28. Shooter Jaspal Rana is the most successful Indian athlete at the Commonwealth Games with a whopping 15 medals against his name.
29. Shooter Tejaswini Sawant is the most successful Indian woman at the Commonwealth Games with a total of 7 medals in her bag.
30. India's biggest contingent at the Commonwealth Games was registered in 2010 when a total of 495 athletes from the country competed in front of their home crowd.