Commonwealth Games 2022: Indians who missed out on medals by whisker

India finished fourth at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games with a total of 61 medals, including 22 gold against their name. This was one of the better performances by the Indian athletes considering the fact that their strong suit - shooting, was not a part of the quadrennial event.

Though it was a splendid show by the Indians in Birmingham, a few of them ended up missing medals by a whisker. Here, we take a look at the Indian athletes who just about missed out on the podium.

Sreeja Akula

Sreeja Akula was one of the break out stars for India at the Commonwealth Games 2022. Though she clinched the gold medal in table tennis mixed doubles alongside Achanta Sharath Kamal, the 23-year-old missed out on a singles medal after losing 3-4 in a hard fought bronze medal match against 3-time Olympic medallist Tianwei Feng of Singapore.

Ajay Singh

Ajay Singh, in men's 81kg weightlifting, was considered to be one of the hottest prospects to be crowned the Commonwealth Games. However, a below par outing in the clean and jerk section owing to an injury meant that he missed out on a place on the podium. Ajay finished with a total of 319kg to finish fourth - just 1kg short of Canada's Nicholas Vanchon, who finished with a total of 320kg for the bronze.

Srihari Natraj

Srihari Natraj produced the best-ever performance by an Indian in the history of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. The 21-year-old finished fifth in the men's 50m backstroke and seventh in men's 100m backstroke. He was also the reserve for the 200m backstroke final after a brilliant show in the heats.

Manpreet Kaur

Para-powerlifter Manpreet Kaur finished fourth in Women's Lightweight category. She accumulated a total of 89.6 points, while the bronze medal went to Hellen Kariuki of Kenya at 98.5 points.

Raj Alagar

Competing in men's singles C3-5 table tennis at the Commonwealth Games, Raj Alagar went down 0-3 to Nigeria's Isau Ogunkunle in the bronze medal match in Birmingham. While Alagar was ranked 29th in the world, the Nigerian was ranked much higher at number 11.

Praveen Chitravel

Praveen Chitravel, probably, endured the biggest heartbreak of all Indian athletes at the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games. He saw two of his teammates earn a historic top two finish for India in men's triple jump, while finishing fourth himself. Praveen and India missed out on a podium sweep in Birmingham by a mere 3cm. While the Tamil Nadu lad leapt a best of 16.89m, the bronze went to Jah-Nhai Perinchief at 16.92m.

Sharmila

A para-shotputter competing in women's F55-57 section, Sharmila finished fourth with a personal best effort of 8.43m. The bronze medal went to U Alam of Nigeria at 9.30m.