In absence of shooting, a strong India weighs up its options in other events to finish on podium

Birmingham, July 27

India’s top-five finish at the Commonwealth Games has taken a hit in the shooting event’s absence while the Birmingham 2022 organisers would look to deliver a successful sporting spectacle after a challenging build-up.

The opening ceremony at the Alexander Stadium tomorrow evening will mark the beginning of the sporting extravaganza that remains huge but is fighting to remain relevant.

The UK is hosting the mega event for the third time in the last 20 years with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) unable to attract new bidders out of the 56 countries that made up the sporting body due to cost constraints. The CGF has 72 members but is made up of 56 countries.

Birmingham, too, was rather a late entry in the bidding for the 2022 edition after South Africa had expressed its inability to stage the event back in 2017.

“We need to make the Games more affordable and take it to cities which are yet to host them,” Birmingham 2022 CEO Ian Reid said.

Top-5 finish

While India remains far from becoming a sporting superpower, the CWG have been a happy hunting ground for the largest nation in the Commonwealth.

A top-five finisher since the 2002 edition, India has relied a lot on shooting which was controversially dropped from the Birmingham Games programme.

In the Gold Coast Games four years ago, shooters won 25 per cent of India’s total medals of 66 and the sport had contributed seven gold. The big question is how will India compensate for the absence of shooting?

A bagful of medals are expected in the weightlifting, badminton, boxing, wrestling and table tennis but it might not be enough to offset the loss caused by the shooting’s absence.

Athletics, in which India has won only 28 medals in the event’s 72-year-old history, was expected to propel India’s cause but the Olympics champion Neeraj Chopra’s late pull-out has come as a huge setback.

“Shooting’s absence will hurt us but athletics can compensate for that by getting 7-8 medals,” reckoned former long jumper Anju Bobby George

A gold rush, however, is expected in wrestling with all 12 participants, including defending champions Vinesh Phogat and Bajrang Punia, expected to finish on the podium. In Gold Coast, wrestlers tallied 12 medals, including five gold.

Weightlifters, who aggregated nine medals including five gold four years ago, are ready to emulate that performance. The field will be led by the Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu.

The shuttlers, led by superstar PV Sindhu, will be expected to win medals in the women’s singles, men’s singles, men’s doubles and mixed team category. The other stars in the squad include the World Championships medallists Kidambi Srikanth and Lakshya Sen.

The boxers, who fetched nine medals four years ago, will also be major contributors to the medals tally. Reigning world champion Nikhat Zareen and Lovlina Borgohain will be keenly followed.

In hockey, both men and women will be looking to make amends for the disappointment of the Gold Coast edition when the teams returned empty-handed. The men will be out to end Australia’s dominance, while the women, who finished fourth at the Tokyo Games, will back themselves to finish in the top-three. — PTI

Sindhu, Manpreet named flagbearers

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