CWG 2018 Concludes: Complete Highlights of the Event

The 2018 Commonwealth Games (officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Gold Coast 2018) has been kicked off recently in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. It is the fifth time Australia has hosted the Commonwealth Games. The Motto of CWG 2018 is “Share the Dream”. ‘Borobi’ was named as the mascot of the 2018 Commonwealth Games in 2016. Borobi is a blue koala, with indigenous markings on its body.

Flag Bearers:
1. PV Sindhu was the flag bearer for the inauguration ceremony.
2. MC Mary Kom was the flag bearer for the concluding ceremony.

India finished third in the medals tally at the Commonwealth Games 2018, courtesy 66 medals including 26 gold, 20 silver and 20 bronze medals. Australia with 198 medals topped the chart and England with 136 stood second.

Here is the complete list of Medals won by top 10 countries in the tournament-

India’s combined 66 medals is its third-best showing in the history of the Games. India’s best remains 101 in New Delhi (2010), followed by 69 in Manchester (2002). India bettered its showing in Glasgow 2014, where we finished fifth overall, by just two medals. In Glasgow, India claimed 15 Gold, 30 Silver and 19 Bronze.

In table tennis, Manika Batra picked up medals in all events she competed in- Singles Gold, Women’s Doubles Gold, Women’s Team Gold and rounding off the Games with Mixed Doubles Bronze. Batra made history by becoming the first Indian woman to win an individual table tennis Gold at the Games.

India’s maximum medals came from shooting (16), followed by wrestling (12) and weightlifting (9).

Teenager Deepak Lather from Haryana became the youngest (18 Years) Indian weightlifter to claim a Commonwealth Games medal, clinching a Bronze in the men’s 69kg category. Indian shooter Anish Bhanwala, aged 15, created history by becoming the country’s youngest ever Gold medal winner in the Commonwealth Games, in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol.

Neeraj Chopra from Haryana became the first Indian javelin thrower to claim a Gold medal at the Games. His medal is only the fifth track-and-field Gold for India at the Commonwealth Games — the other four being Milkha Singh (1958), discus thrower Krishna Poonia (2010), the women’s 4x400m relay quartet of Manjeet Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini Akkunji and Mandeep Kaur (2010) and shot-putter Vikas Gowda (2014).

The Gold medal won by India’s mixed badminton team is the country’s first in that category at the Games. Saina Nehwal became the first Indian to win two singles Golds at the Games after defeating PV Sindhu. Saina had also won the title in 2010 in New Delhi. The Indian badminton contingent’s total of seven medals (2 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze) turned out to be the best performance by any Indian badminton team at the Games.

Weightlifter Mirabai Chanu, who claimed India’s first Gold, in the Women’s 48 kg, broke three Games records in the ‘snatch’ section, the ‘clean and jerk’ and the overall Games record.

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