Top 5 Indian Athletes who we are likely to miss at Commonwealth Games 2022

Indian Athletes who we are likely to miss at Commonwealth Games 2022

To date, the Commonwealth Games have produced some of the most remarkable moments in sporting history and proven to be a platform where sporting veterans build exemplary legacies that will etch them in the record books forever and young blood who strive to channel all their talent, energy, and hard work to stand at the podium with their widened chests and heads held high with pride.

Over the years, countless incredible athletes have stepped foot in this event, competed, triumphed, & departed……

Here are the Top 5 Indian Athletes who we are likely to miss at Commonwealth Games 2022,

 

JITU RAI

Indian shooter Jitu Rai specializes in the 10 m air pistol and 50 m pistol categories. In 2016, the Government of India bestowed upon him the Khel Ratna Award and, in 2020, awarded him the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian accolade.

Rai set a Commonwealth Games record in the qualifying round of the 50 m pistol category in 2014, with 562 points. He ended up winning the event’s gold medal, amassing 194.1 points in the finals to establish yet another Games milestone.

Jitu won gold in the 50 m pistol event at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea. In addition, he claimed bronze in the men’s 10 m air pistol team competition. Rai also won silver in both the 10m Air Pistol events at the ISSF World Cups in 2014 and 2016.

He shattered the Commonwealth Games benchmark for men’s 10m air pistol with an overall score of 235.1 points at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, clinching his first Commonwealth Games gold medal in that category. Jitu Rai’s second gold at the Commonwealth Games.

With the CGF scrapping the shooting event from CWG 2022 due to insufficient resources in Birmingham to carry out the sport, the absence of Jitu Rai’s assured medal success would put a dent in India’s medal tally at the Games.

Can India break the medal tally record at Commonwealth Games 2022?

 

ARCHANA KAMATH

Archana Kamath, a table tennis phenom, has won the state championships in the U-15, U-18 & U-21 levels.

In 2013, she won 30 trophies at State events and was the youngest player in India to win the U-21 crown at the age of 14 years. The same year, she won the National Championship in Singles and a bronze in Doubles.

Her international career began soon after, in 2014, when she was selected to represent India on the Asian squad at the ITTF World Cadet Challenge. ITTF presented her with a silver medal and a Fair Play Award for her efforts.

In 2018, she finished fourth at the 2018 Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, edging Azerbaijan’s Jing-Ning 4-3. As a result, she became the first Indian paddler to reach the Youth Olympic Games semifinals.

Archana Kamath was excluded from the 2022 CWG squad, much to everyone’s surprise, because the selection criteria do not provide weightage to international singles and doubles ranks.

Her hopes of competing at the Games were crushed when the High Court of Karnataka rejected her request Archana Kamath is seeded 37 on the domestic level and is the world’s fourth-ranked doubles player and India’s second-highest-ranked singles paddler, at World No. 66.

The TTFI’s selection strategy provides national rankings with 50% weightage, international rankings with 30%, and the remaining 20% is up to the selectors’ judgment.

 

SAINA NEHWAL

Indian badminton maestro Saina Nehwal is a former world number one who has won 24 international tournaments, including 10 Superseries championships.

She attained the world number one position in 2015, becoming the only Indian female player and the second Indian player overall, after Prakash Padukone, to do the same. She has contested three Olympics for India, earning a bronze medal on her second outing in London in 2012.

Nehwal became the first Indian woman to win two Commonwealth Games singles gold medals in 2010 and 2018.

The Government of India honored her with the Padma Bhushan, the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, and the Arjuna Award for her outstanding achievements in the game of badminton.

Saina has struggled with injuries and poor performances over the last few years, causing her rank to plummet to 23^rd. She will not participate in the upcoming Games since she chose to bypass the selection trials for undisclosed reasons. Her absence will be a substantial loss for the Indian team heading into the event.

 

MARY KOM

Mary Kom, an Indian boxing legend, is one of the greatest ever to grace the squared circle. She is the first female boxer to win six World Amateur Boxing Championships and the only boxer to claim eight World Championship medals.

Magnificent Mary won a bronze medal in the flyweight (51 kg) event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. The AIBA had also ranked her as the world’s No. 1 female light-flyweight. She was the first Indian female boxer to win gold at both the 2014 Asian Games and the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She is also the first boxer to acquire six Asian Amateur Boxing Championships.

Commonwealth Games 2022: Veteran Boxer MC Mary Kom ruled out CWG 2022 after suffering a Knee injury

The veteran boxer’s desire to partake in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham ended in sorrow when she was forced to abandon halfway through the selection trials owing to a knee problem.

 

SUSHIL KUMAR 

Former Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar waved the Indian flag at the 2012 London Olympics inauguration ceremony. His Olympic medal in 2008 was India’s second in wrestling and the first since Khashaba Dadasaheb Jadhav’s bronze medal in 1952.

He was awarded the Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna, India’s highest sporting honor. Kumar presented the Queen’s Baton to Prince Charles during the Queen’s Baton Relay during the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony in 2010.

Sushil won gold in the 74 kg weight category at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. He also won gold in the 74 kg division at CWG 2018, upsetting South Africa’s Johannes Botha in an 80-second finale. He accomplished the record of winning three gold medals in three successive Commonwealth Games.