With 7 Golds, 7 Silvers & 11 Bronze Medal. India stand third after England & Malaysia in Badminton History of CWG
Here we look at how has been India’s performance across different editions.
1966 Jamaica CWG Games
Badminton was first held at the CWG in 1966 and since then has been held in all the editions. In the 20th century, it was all about Malaysia and England dominating the medals tally along with Scotland, India, and Canada winning a few.
In the inaugural edition, Malaysia won 2 gold and 2 silver with England winning 3 gold, 2 silver, and 2 bronze. Off the 15 medals to play for 11 medals were won by only these two nations such was their dominance.
Source Firstpost
Dinesh Khanna became the 1st Indian to win a medal ( bronze ) for India at the CWG in the men’s singles.
1970-74 Games
In the 1970 Edinburgh and 1974 Christchurch editions, India failed to win a single medal. Goel was so close to getting a medal but eventually lost in the bronze medal playoff. No Women participation in both these games as well. In fact Prakash Padukone was the lone player in the 1974 edition.
1978 Edmonton Games
The legendary Prakash Padukone took part in his 2nd CWG and won India its 1st gold medal in the history of CWG games. This edition saw four Indians in the men singles notably Syed Modi, Prakash Padukone & Uday Pawar.
Source : The Bridge
It was also the first time a Female Badminton player from India took part in the CWG.
1982 Brisbane Games
It was now the turn of Syed Modi who India its 2nd gold medal. He was quite sensational through the tournament and won the final in three games.
Ami Ghia & Kanwal Singh missed the bronze medal by a whisker as they went down English team in the bronze medal match
Prakash Padukone was not part of this edition.
1986-1994 Games
After two good editions of India winning gold medals again, Indian presence started to decline in the next 3 editions with none of the Indians getting a podium finish.
The 1986 games saw no Indian participation, while in the next games at Auckland a three member team participated but only Deepti Thanekar could reach the bronze medal match only to lose it
Vimal Kumar the star player too couldn’t contribute much as he lost in the initial knockout stages.
There was no participation from India in the 1994 CWG in Badminton.
1998 Kuala-Lumpur Games
In 1998 Pullela Gopichand and Aparna Popat won silver and bronze respectively. India won its 1st medal after 12 years. There were no bronze medal matches instead were shared by the losing semi- finalists.
Then India for the 1st time won a silver medal in the men’s team event losing to Malaysia in the finals.
In the women’s team, India won a bronze medal.
2002 Manchester Games
Again after a good last edition, India failed to continue with its momentum winning just a bronze medal in the 2002 edition. Despite having names like Pullela Gopichand, Trupti Murgunde, V Diju none reached even the Semifinals except Aparna Popat.
2006 Melbourne Games
Chetan Anand in men’s singles and the mixed team for the 1st time won bronze medals respectively. This games also saw Saina Nehwal making her debut. Although she lost in the first round of women singles, she and Trupti went up to the Bronze Medal playoff. Jwala Gutta also made an appearance in these games.
2010 New Delhi Games
At the 2010 edition India for the 1st time won 2 gold medals in a single edition and this was achieved in front of their home fans. Saina Nehwal won the women singles Gold Medal while Ashwini/Jwala won gold with the India mixed team again winning a silver medal.
Parupalli Kashyap won Bronze Medal
2014 Glasgow Games
Parupalli Kashyap won India its only gold medal in the 2014 games in men’s singles. After Syed Modi & Prakash Padukone, Kashyap was the only player to win gold in men’s singles. This edition also saw the rise of PV Sindhu who won the bronze in women’s singles. Gurusai Dutt won a bronze Medal while Jwala & Ashwini grabbed the Silver medal at the event.
2018 Gold Coast Games
India for the 1st time in the history of CWG was placed on top of the rankings table for Badminton coming ahead of mighty Malaysia and England. India in this edition won 2 gold 3 silver and a bronze medal. Indian mixed team too for the 1st time defeated Malaysia to win gold. Srikanth Kidambi won the Silver Medal while the young pair of Chirag & Satwik also grabbed the Silver Medal.
It was an all Indian Women Singles match with Saina defeating Sindhu in the final. Ashwini & Sikki won Bronze Medal.