The Commonwealth Games will officially commence from today with the opening ceremony ending in a grandeur manner at Celtic Park.
The Commonwealth Games will officially commence from today with the opening ceremony ending in a grandeur manner at Celtic Park.
The Delhi 2010 Games saw India achieve an unprecedented success which in due respect, will be hard to replicate this time around. But with a 215-strong Indian contingent around, India surely sees a top-five finish in the 20th Commonwealth Games with the likes of England and Australia going for glory.
India finished second behind Australia with a record 101-medal haul in New Delhi in a Games marred by corruption scandals and construction delays but praised for the stunning success in terms of delivery of the event and performance by the athletes. India, which has sent 215 athletes in 14 sports, its largest ever after2010 Delhi CWG, will be hit hard by the scrapping of archery and tennis from Glasgow Games and the reduction in the number of medal events in shooting and wrestling.
The country had won a combined 12 medals from archery and tennis in 2010 while bagging 14 medals from the 18 events dropped this time from shooting. Greco-Roman category in wrestling, from which India won eight medals in 2010, has also been done away with in Glasgow.
With several of the shooters, who had given 30 medals in 2010, also are not at their peak thus India’s medal tally is expected to reduce drastically from the 101 in 2010 and anything above 60 can be considered a great achievement.
Finishing second in Glasgow ahead of England, whose athletes are competing under near home-like conditions, is unlikely for India. England will also be hurt less than India on account of scrapping of archery and tennis and pruning down of the number of events in shooting and wrestling. Moreover, they did not send many of their top athletes in 2010 because of the 2012 London Olympics.
India, which has more than half of the total two billion population of the Commonwealth countries, has returned with nearly 30 medal winners of the last Games with the likes of Abhinav Bindra, Gagan Narang, Vijender Singh, Sushil Kumar, Yogeshwar Dutt, Krishna Poonia, Ashish Kumar, Achanta Sharath Kamal set to prove their mettle once again.
With a tough competition expected from other countries, India can surely deliver atleast a 3rd spot at the Games but not before giving a tough fight!
