101 medals, 2nd on medals tally: Remembering 2010 Commonwealth Games – India’s best performance ever | Commonwealth Games 2022 News – Times of India

Home turf, home conditions and home support play a big role for any sports person in the international arena and it proved true for the Indian athletes at the 2010 Commonwealth Games held in New Delhi. India finished second on the medal tally behind Australia – their best showing at the Games till date – by winning 101 medals which included 38 gold, 27 silver and 36 bronze medals.
For the first time in the history of the Games, India won over 100 medals in total. For the first time ever India won a medal in gymnastics, with Ashish Kumar winning a silver and a bronze. And it was after a gap of 52 years that India had won a gold in a track and field event – after legendary sprinter Milkha Singh’s gold medal at the 1958 Cardiff Games – when Krishna Poonia won the yellow metal in the women’s discus throw event. Geeta Phogat scripted history as she became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold – in the women’s 55kg category – at the Commonwealth Games.
Here TimesofIndia.com takes you down memory lane to relive some of the big highlights of the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which will never be forgotten:
Medal Rush for India
The shooting contingent spearheaded the Indian medal rush at the CWG 2010, with 2008 Beijing Olympics gold-medallist Abhinav Bindra leading the way. Indian shooters clinched 30 medals in total out of India’s 101 medals, including 14 gold out of the 38 top podium finishes. Wrestlers ruled the mat too as 19 of the 21 wrestlers secured podium finishes, which included 10 gold medals. Overall Indian men won 64 medals while the women claimed 36. The only mixed team medal came in badminton, a silver.

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Krishna Poonia ended India’s long wait in Track & Field
Ace discus thrower Krishna Poonia finally ended India’s long wait for an athletics gold at the Commonwealth Games. Fifty two years after the great Milkha Singh gave the country its first gold medal triumph in Cardiff, Poonia gave the country its second gold. And with Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil taking the silver and bronze, India celebrated its first-ever sweep of all the medals in Commonwealth Games history.

(TOI photo)
Poonia set the tone in her very first throw, registering a distance of 61.51m. She came up with fouls in three of her next five throws and was not able to cross the 60m mark again, but her first throw was good enough for her to seal the gold medal.
Ashish Kumar scripted history in gymnastics
Gymnast Ashish Kumar scripted history and opened a new chapter for India in the little-followed sport by clinching the country’s first-ever medal at the CWG. He won the bronze medal in the men’s floor exercise followed by a silver medal in the men’s individual vault. India had never won a gymnastics medal in an event of such magnitude.

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In the individual apparatus men’s artistic competition, Ashish scored a 14.475 on the floor to finish third behind Australian Thomas Pichler (14.675) and Englishman Reiss Beckford (14.625). The 19-year-old Ashish then scored 15.312 points to finish second behind Englishman Luke Folwell (15.762) in the men’s individual vault. The bronze went to Ian Galvan (15.037) of Canada.
Geeta Phogat’s gold – A watershed moment for Indian women’s wrestling
Geeta Phogat made history by winning the gold medal in the women’s 55kg category at the 2010 Commonwealth Games. It was the first ever gold medal won by a female Indian wrestler at the quadrennial event and marked a watershed moment for Indian women’s wrestling. Geeta’s younger sister Babita Phogat also won a silver in the 51kg category making it a double delight for the Phogat family and certainly a proud moment for their father and coach Mahavir Phogat.

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Geeta Phogat won the first bout of her event quite easily as she defeated her opponent Wales’ Non Evans by fall. Geeta won the bout 2-0. The then 21-year-old Geeta had to battle hard in the semi-final against Nigeria’s Lovina Edwards. Geeta lost the first round 0-1 but she fought back and won the next two rounds 1-0 and 4-0. Geeta did not face much trouble in the final against Australia’s Emily Bensted. She claimed an easy 3-0, 7-0 victory over Bensted to clinch the coveted gold.
Sharath Kamal’s golden run
Ace Indian paddler Sharath Kamal – who holds the distinction of winning India’s first gold at the Commonwealth Games in Table Tennis in the 2006 edition – continued his golden run as he went on to win two medals, a gold and a bronze, in the 2010 edition – in the men’s doubles and men’s team events respectively. Sharath teamed up with Subhajit Saha to win gold in the men’s doubles category and was part of the bronze medal winning men’s team also.

(Photo credit: Twitter)
Saina Nehwal’s gold pushed India to second spot
India achieved their best-ever finish – second spot on the medal tally – at the Commonwealth Games and the medal that pushed them to second place ahead of England was prolific Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal’s singles gold. Saina became the first Indian woman to achieve the golden feat feat and also took the country to second position on the medals tally ahead of England with a gold count of 38 on the concluding day of the event in 2010.

(Photo credit: Twitter)
In the 2010 final, Saina Nehwal got the better of Malaysia’s Mew Choo Wong. She lost the first game 19-21 and was trailing 20-21 in the second game, but the Indian ace held her nerve at a crucial juncture of the match and picked up the next two points to close the second game 23-21, before clinching the match and the gold with a 21-13 win in the third game. With this gold, India leap-frogged England – who had 37 golds – to claim the second spot behind Australia. England, however, had more silver (60) and bronze (45) than India, but had to be content with the third spot.