India’s recent success at the World Athletics Championship can be considered a curtain raiser for the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Historically, India have won a total of 28 medals in athletics, including 5 gold, 10 silver and 13 bronze. In 2022 Birmingham, India have a 33-member squad, competing in 16 disciplines.
The country’s best athletics medal haul had come at the Delhi CWG in 2010 with 2 gold, 3 silver and 7 bronze, with its second-best showing at the CWG till now has been the three-medal hauls (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze each) in the 2014 and 2018 editions.
In fact, six finalists from India at the World Championships are heading to Birmingham where the competition will be relatively easier and can help win a handful of medals.
Leading the lines will be Olympic gold and world championships silver medallist Neeraj Chopra as he looks to defend his crown from the previous edition in Australia’s Gold Coast. Before making his debut at the CWG in 2018, Neeraj was already a junior world champion and had hurled the javelin to 86.47 metres, just one centimetre short of his then-personal best, to win gold.
A few months later, Neeraj went on to win gold at the Asian Games in Jakarta, rewriting his own national record. The 24-year-old has since been improving his personal best and national record twice and coming within sniffing distance of the magical 90-metre mark. Neeraj made an impressive return to competition after Tokyo 2020, breaking the national record with an 89.30m throw to clinch the silver at Paavo Nurmi Games and then broke the national record again with a throw of 89.94m to finish second in the Stockholm Diamond League 2022 in Sweden recently.
Youngsters Rohit Yadav, who finished 10th with an effort of 78.72m at the World Championships final, and DP Manu are also in the running to have a good showing at CWG 2022, with Neeraj himself gushing over their growth.
Javelin thrower Annu Rani finished seventh at the World Championships with an effort of 61.12m and a similar showing can ensure a medal at CWG. The 29-year-old has a season’s and personal best of 63.82m, breaking her own national record as she won gold during the Indian Open Javelin Throw Competition in May in Jamshedpur.
In the long jump, Murali Sreeshankar, who is joint second in the season’s list with 8.36m, can bring home a medal from Birmingham. He had finished seventh with a best effort of 7.99m at the World Championships, which was the best among Commonwealth athletes. The other Indian in the fray, Muhammed Anees Yahiya, can also be in medal contention if he clears the 8m mark – something he has already done five times this season with a best of 8.15m in March.
India’s three triple jumper Eldhose Paul, who made it to the World Championships final, has a chance to win big at the Commonwealth Games. In the final, he finished ninth with a jump of 16.79m.
Praveen Chitravel and Abdulla Aboobacker, in the same field, have breached the 17m mark this season but managed 16.49m and 16.45m respectively at the World Championships.
As for the discus throw, India can clinch two medals with Seema Antil and Navjeet Kaur Dhillon having won silver and a bronze in the 2018 edition.
In fact, Antil has never returned empty-handed and will be gunning for her fifth medal in as many appearances and along with Navjeet, can get on the podium who their season’s best.
Avinash Sable would like to right the wrong of his 11th place finish in the final of the men’s 3000m steeplechase event at the World Championships. The 27-year-old clocked 8:31.75, way below his season’s and personal best of 8:12.48, which is a national record. It was, however, the slowest 3000m steeplechase final race in World Championships history with all the three medal winners clocking way below their season’s and personal best
There was disappointment too even before the Games started as two Indian athletes were caught doping. Dhanalakshmi Sekar, who was to compete in women’s 100m and 4x100m relay, and Aishwarya Babu, who was to feature in the long jump as well as triple jump, were pulled out of the 36-member Indian team.
There was selection drama too as high jumper Tejaswin Shankar was not picked for the team after he breached the qualifying standard laid down by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI). After Shankar petitioned at the Delhi High Court, the AFI included him in the team but the Birmingham organisers initially refused to accept it only to make a U-turn later and clear his entry at the last minute.
List of Indian Track and Field Athletes at the CWG 2022 in Birmingham and event schedule:
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