5 best gold wins for Indians at CWG 2018

The exuberance of youth, the endurance of experience, and a little bit of the usual drama that is a part and parcel of Indian sports -- the country's Commonwealth Games campaign was all this and much more with a medal count that turned out to be the third best ever.

With 26 gold, 20 silver and as many bronze medals, India ended the games third on the table -- a promotion of two positions from Glasgow.

India would certainly be glad about the emergence of a new crop of athletes ready to conquer the world. Here is a list of the top 5 gold medal winners at CWG:

---

#5 Sushil Kumar - Men's freestyle 74kg Wrestling

Sushil Kumar celebrating after winning gold in the men's freestyle 74kg wrestling category.

The two-time Olympic medallist was not expected to be tested in Commonwealth Games as the standard is not very great. Sushil won the gold without breaking sweat, outplaying all his opponents.

But what mattered more was that he had set aside the controversy of the walkovers at the Nationals, the clash between his supporters and those of his opponent Praveen Rana, and the concerns over his preparations away from the national camp.

His domination of the men’s 74kg freestyle wrestling category at the 2018 Commonwealth Games was summed up by the way he went about his business in the final bout against Johannes Botha of South Africa.

#4 Mary Kom - Women's 45-48kg Boxing

Mary Kom poses with her gold medal on April 14, 2018

Everyone knew that MC Mary Kom had an easy path to the gold medal in the 45-48 kg class as there were only eight competitors who were young and fairly inexperienced. The Indian was contesting against herself, hoping to prove that even at 35, the mother of three still had the drive and desire to win medals.

The Commonwealth Games medal was the only one missing from her trophy cabinet. Now that the anomaly has been set right, can she continue till 2020?

She wants to add gold to her bronze medal from 2012 but it will be an uphill task. However, when it comes to Mary Kom, not many would like to bet against her.

#3 Neeraj Chopra - Javelin Throw

Neeraj Chopra after clinching gold at the Javelin Throw final event

Clearly the best athletics talent to come out of the country, the 20-year-old javelin thrower became only the fifth from the country to win gold at Commonwealth Games. He was only the third male athlete from the country to win CWG gold.

Neeraj missed his personal best by just a centimeter.

A star to watch out for in future!

#2 Saina Nehwal - Women’s Singles Badminton

Saina Nehwal in action against PV Sindhu in the final match for the Gold

There were question marks over her form and return from injury, that had dragged on for months. The fact that a younger player like PV Sindhu overtook her in the rankings further fuelled the discussion.

Saina answered all her critics with a superlative show as she helped India win the mixed team championship for the first time, and also bagged the singles crown that she had last won in 2010.

Her duel with Sindhu in the women’s singles final kept the crowd enthralled. She now has to start winning titles again and climb up in the rankings.

#1 Manika Batra - Table Tennis

Manika holding the tricolour after winning Gold at the final TT event

She was India’s Cinderella girl for this edition of the Commonwealth Games. Before the games, any medal would have been good, as Singapore were too strong. They had the world no. 4 Tianwei Feng and Mengyu Yu in their ranks.

But Manika, ranked 58th in the world, exceeded all expectations, to not only lead India to a gold medal in the team championships, but also in singles, beating both the higher ranked players from Singapore.

She used superb tactics to outwit higher ranked players and because of her performance, India managed to make a dent in the table tennis order at CWG.

Will she be able to translate this success at the ITTF Tour and on the world stage?