A giant leap for Indian sports

Throughout the Commonwealth Games history there have been many great athletes who have given their best and also succeeded in winning medals.

There are athletes who have stood out either because of their number of medals, the longevity of their careers or the way they performed to find a place on the podium.

And Commonwealth Games is one such event where Indian sportsperson have always had and excellent showing. This year too India performed reasonably well at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, grabbing 64 medals though much less than the impressive 101 in the 2010 Delhi edition, and ranked fifth in the international sporting event. India’s medals tally is 15 Gold, 30 Silver, 19 Bronze, in short a total of 64 medals.

The ones who shone the brightest during the sporting extravaganza are the young guns who have made India proud once again. Metrolife spoke to a few sportspersons who have bagged medals in the multi-sport event.

Babita Kumari, the young wrestler from Haryana, won a gold medal in the women’s 55 kg freestyle wrestling competition and the feeling was exhilarating.

She said, “The experience has been amazing and can’t be compared to anything. In the 2010 CWG I had won a silver and this year I won a gold. As a woman I feel really happy to have made my country proud. Also, I would appeal to all the parents to support their children in whatever they want to do in their lives. I am also here just because of my parents.” 

Kumari is from Haryana and is a Sub-Inspector in the Haryana Police. Another athlete Dipa Karmakar became the first Indian woman and second person from the country to clinch a historic Commonwealth Games medal in artistic gymnastics after winning the women’s vault bronze.

The 21-year-old from Tripura collected 14.366 points to finish third in the women’s vault final. Talking to Metrolife, the youngs gymnast said, “Although I am quite thrilled to win the medal but on the other hand I am also a little sad as I missed the silver medal just by point one.” The athlete who is now focussing on the 17th Asian Games which will kickstart this September also thanked her coach and the Government for all support.

If India has maintained a decent record in the CWG and won medals in almost all segments, hockey too gave everyone a reason to smile. In this CWG too they won the silver medal. Rupinder Pal Singh, one of the members of the hockey team, said, “It is a very special feeling to win a medal in the CWG and we all are quite happy. But, due to some silly errors, which cost us the final match, we landed in the second place.”

Speaking about the future of hockey in our country, Singh, said, “We will have to win more important and popular tournaments and that is how people will start following this game. If we do not win medals, we would not get the popularity ever,” said the 24-year-old bank employee.

Being part of an unconventional sport, Anthony Amalraj too brought India laurels by winning a silver in the doubles table tennis (TT). “In the last CWG I had won a bronze in the singles and this year we won a silver. I have been playing TT for the past 20 years and got inspiration from my father who was also a TT player. He has been my coach ever since.”

“India is doing quite well in terms of all sports and due to this we players are also getting exposure and foreign trips too, where we go and learn various new techniques. Also, people have started spending money on sports, and that is a very good thing” the TT player said.