India in the 2014 Commonwealth Games: Glasgow, Scotland

India in the 2014 Commonwealth Games: Glasgow, Scotland

The 2014 Commonwealth Games (officially the XX Commonwealth Games) were held in Glasgow, Scotland, from 23 July to 3 August 2014. This is the 20th edition of the Commonwealth Games. 

The motto of Commonwealth Games 2014 is People, Place, Passion. 

Scotland has previously hosted the event twice, in 1970 and 1986, both in Edinburgh.

England finished top of the medal table for the first time since the 1986 Commonwealth Games, also held in Scotland. 

Kiribati also won its first ever medal at a Commonwealth Games, a gold in the 105 kg men's weightlifting competition.

There are 71 participating nations at the 2014 Commonwealth Games with approximately 4,950 competing athletes, making it one of the largest Commonwealth Games staged to date.

Mascot:

Clyde, an anthropomorphic thistle named after the river which flows through the centre of Glasgow, was the official mascot of the 2014 Commonwealth Games. 

The mascot was designed by Beth Gilmour, who won a competition run by Glasgow 2014 for children to design the Mascot.

Medal Tally:

Rank	Nation	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	England	58	59	57	174
2	Australia	49	42	46	137
3	Canada	32	16	34	82
4	Scotland	19	15	19	53
5	India	15	30	19	64

India in the 2014 Commonwealth Games, Glasgow, Scotland

India who had finished second in the 2010 Commonwealth Games with an overall tally of 101 medals (38 gold, 27 silver & 36 bronze medals), managed only 64 medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games – with the medals tally comprising 15 gold, 30 silver and 19 bronze. India kept occupying fifth spot on the medals table.

This was third highest medal haul after 2010 Delhi CWG (101 medals) and 2002 Manchester CWG (69 medals).

On closing ceremony, the Indian contingent’s flag bearer was Seema Punia, who won Silver in women's discus throw. While, the torch bearer in the opening ceremony was ace shooter Vijay Kumar, the 2012 London Olympics Silver medalist.

Here is the list of 15 Gold medal winners who made the country proud.

Weightlifting

1. K Sanjita Chanu: In Women’s weightlifting 48 kg category K Sanjita Chanu with a total lift of 173 kg won the prized gold medal. 

Note: Sanjita Chanu wins India’s first Gold medal at 2014 Commonwealth Games.

2. Sukhen Dey: Sukhen Dey in Men’s weightlifting 56 kg category claimed gold medal by lifting a total of 248 kg.

3. Satish Sivalingam: 77 kg Satish Sivalingam created a games record with a total lift of 328 kg to claim gold medal while Ravi Katulu lifted total of 317 kg to win silver medal.

Wrestling

4.Sushil Kumar: In Men’s wrestling, 75kg freestyle Sushil Kumar defeated Qamar Abbas of Pakistan what turned out to be a lopsided event. In just 107 minutes Sushil trounced his opponent to take home gold.

5.Yogeshwar Dutt: In Men’s wrestling, 65 kg freestyle Yogeshwar Dutt brought laurels to the country by clinching gold medal after defeating Canada’s Jevon Balfour in the final.

6. Amit Kumar: Nigerian Ebikweminomo Welson was Amit Kumar’s opponent in the final of Men’s wrestling, 57kg freestyle. Amit defeated Welson 3-1 to claim the gold medal.

7. Babita Kumari: In Women’s wrestling; 55 kg freestyle Babita Kumari completely dominated the proceedings over Canada’s Brittanee Laverdure and defeated her 9-2 in the finals for the coveted gold medal.

8. Vinesh Phogat: In Women’s wrestling, 48kg freestyle youngster Vinesh Phogat who is just 19 years old defeated Yana Rattigan of England by 11-8 to be part of the glorious 15.

Shooting

9. Abhinav Bindra: In Men’s 10m Air Rifleformer Olympic gold medallist Abhinav Bindra claimed his first individual gold at the commonwealth Games when he finished witha final games record score of 205.3. 

10. Jitu Rai: In Men’s shooting, 50 m Pistol Jitu Rai who set finals games record gathering a total of 194.1 points won gold for his country. Gurpal Singh with 187.2 points settled with silver in this category.

11. Rahi Sarnobat: It was an all-Indian affair in the final of Women’s shooting 25 m Pistol event as Rahi Sarnobat defeated Anisa Sayyed to clinch the gold medal.

12. Apurvi Chandela: In Women’s shooting, 10 m Air Rifle rising star Apurvi Chandela claimed her first international medal. Apurvi triumphed over her compatriot Ayonika Paul to win the gold medal.

Athletics

13. Vikas Gowda: After winning the gold medal In Men’s discus throw Vikas Gowda became the first Indian man to win a field event gold medal at the Commonwealth Games. Gowda threw the discus to 63.64m to clinch the gold medal.

Note: Vikas Gowda became the first Indian man to win a field event gold medal at the Commonwealth Games

Squash

14. Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa: In Women’s doubles finals the pair of Dipika Pallikal and Joshana Chinappa defeated England’s Jenny Duncalf and Laura Massaro 11-6, 11-8 in straight sets. 

Note: The pair gave India their first squash medal in the Commonwealth Games.

Badminton

15. Parupalli Kashyap: On last day of the Commonwealth Games Parupalli Kashyap in Men’s Badminton final defeated Singapore’s Derek Wong 21-14, 11-21, 21-19 to clinch the gold.

Note: Parupalli Kashyap became the first Indian man in 32 years to win badminton gold at the Games.

Important Points:

1. Vijay Kumar is the flag bearer for Indian contingent at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games

2. Sanjita Chanu wins India’s first Gold medal at 2014 Commonwealth Games.

3. Vikas Gowda became India's only second male athlete to win a gold at the Commonwealth Games after the legendary Milkha Singh won the 440 yard gold way back in 1958 at Cardiff. 

4. Parupalli Kashyap became the first Indian man in 32 years to win badminton gold at the Games.

5. Dipa Karmakar scripts history, wins first gymnastic medal for India at Commonwealth Games. She bagged a bronze in the vault event.

6. Pinki Rani bags first medal in Boxing. She won bronze medal.

7. England finished top of the medal table at Commonwealth Games for the first time in 28 years.

8. The first Commonwealth Games was hosted by Hamilton, Canada, in 1930 and known as the British Empire Games.

9. The 21st Commonwealth Games will be held in Gold Coast in Australia in 2018. 

10. Australia has hosted the Commonwealth Games on a record four occasions, and will make it five when Gold Coast hosts the event in 2018.