Commonwealth Games 2014: Indian contingent performance in Glasgow

Parupalli Kashyap won gold in badminton men’s singles

India in Glasgow

India bagged a total of 64 medals including 15 gold at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

India managed to finish 5th with a haul of 64 medals (15 gold, 30 silver and 19 bronze). For 215- member Indian contingent, it was certainly not a brilliant performance as it had achieved a haul of 101 medals including 38 gold in New Delhi commonwealth in 2010.

India's haul is limited to certain disciplines. In 2010, India won a total 30 gold in shooting and 19 in wrestling, while the tally was reduced to 17 and 13 respectively. However, Indian weightlifters improved their performance by increasing the tally from 8 in 2010 to 14 this time.

Reasons for reduced haul

Although, the performance of India in Glasgow is considered a modest one, but we need to analyze it with a different perspective.

First, it was our second best performance away from home, just short of Manchester games in 2006 where India managed to win 69 medals.

Second, Tennis, Archery, and Greco- Raman Wrestling were scrapped this time which accounted for 19 medals including eight gold in Delhi 2010 games.

Third, in which environment our athletes made their preparations to perform at the 3rd largest sporting event of the universe after Olympic and Asian Games. In London Olympics 2012, where India succeeded in bringing 6 individual medals, highest ever in Olympic history. And many medals were slipped with a little margin.

The IOA ban affected the team

When it looked like India will take positives out of London, the Indian Olympic committee (IOA) was banned by international Olympic committee (IOC). This ban prevailed as long as 14 months and ended in February 2014, just five months prior to the Glasgow Games. One can imagine how tough those 14 months would have been for Indian athletes when they were not allowed to participate in international events under country's flag.

At the same time, the IOA was not able to receive any fund from IOC. The ban created a rift between the national committee and the sports ministry where the ministry insisted with IOC's directions. This rift affected athletes’ preparation.

And last but not the least, the brilliant performance of Vikas Gowda (Discus throw), P. Kashyap ( Badminton) and the Chennai pair of Deepika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa (Squash) can't be overlooked. These gold medalists affirm that India is not lagging in talent, but what we lack is a good infrastructure and proper administration. Corruption free administration can build better teams of potential Indians.

Asian Games are scheduled in South Korea later this year. We hope our players will perform exceedingly well in Incheon.