Commonwealth Games 2022 – Schedule | Indian Squad | CWG 2022 Mascot | All you need to know

Much awaited 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games is just 29 days away. The quadrennial event will begin on 28th July in Birmingham, United Kingdom, and will continue till 8th August 2022.

India at Commonwealth Games

India made its Commonwealth Games debut in 1934, back then it was known as the British Empire Games. 

CWG 2022 Mascot

Perry, a rainbow-colored bull is a mascot for the Birmingham Games. The mascot takes its name from Perry Barr, an area of Birmingham where Alexander Stadium is situated. It will host the Opening and Closing Ceremonies along with various athletics events.

According to the organizers, 72 nations and territories will be participating in Birmingham 2022. Around 6,500 athletes and team officials will make their appearance at this event.

India and its rich history in Commonwealth Games

• The first medal won for India was by wrestler Rashid Anwar in the 1934 Commonwealth Games. Only 6 Indian contingents participated in the 1934 CWG. India won its first gold medal in 1958 when Milkha Singh was crowned the 440-yard run champion.
• The wait for the next gold medal in athletics was over in the year 2010, when discus thrower, Krishna Poonia broke the jinx after 52 years in the 2010 CWG, New Delhi.
• Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakar Singh became the first Indian females to win a Commonwealth Games medal in 1978 and bagged bronze in women’s badminton doubles.
• In the overall Commonwealth Games medal tally India stands fourth behind Australia, England, and Canada.
• India touched the 10-medal mark in a single edition of the Commonwealth Games for the first time in the year 1966 at Jamaica.
• The biggest Indian contingent was at the CWG 2010, New Delhi. A total of 495 athletes from the country competed in front of the home crowd. 
• India finished at the 2nd spot in CWG 2010 with 38 gold medals, the best-ever finish by India in CWG.
• Delhi beat Hamilton, Canada by a margin of 46 votes to bag the hosting rights for the 2010 edition.

New Games added to Commonwealth Games 2022

Women’s cricket, beach volleyball, and Para table tennis are the recent addition in CW games. Also, sports like road cycling, judo (previously optional), triathlon, table tennis, and wrestling will be seen in CWG 2022.

Cricket will make a comeback at the CWG 2022. Eight women’s teams will compete in CWG 2022-  India, Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, and Barbados. 

Shooting sport has been pulled out from CWG 2022. This can be a hurdle in India’s race for medal tally as 27 of India’s 66 medals at the Gold Coast, CWG in 2018, came from shooting.

The Birmingham Commonwealth Games is going to be the first historic event that will award more medals to women athletes than men. 

CWG 2022 Schedule

The Opening Ceremony of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games will be held on July 28 while the Closing Ceremony will be held on August 8.

Women’s cricket schedule – Commonwealth Games 2022

The schedule for the Women’s T20 Cricket at the Commonwealth Games 2022 is announced and it is as follows:

List of Indian Contingents for Commonwealth Games 2022

Indian athletes clinched a total of 7 medals and ranked 48th in Tokyo Olympics 2020, including a tremendous individual gold won by Neeraj Chopra. Many of India’s top athletes will be back in action at the biggest multi-disciplinary event in Birmingham in 2022. India named a total of 37-member athletics squad for the Birmingham Commonwealth Games including prominent names like Neeraj Chopra, Dutee Chand, and Hima Das.

Athletics Squad

Men

• Avinash Sable – men’s 3000m steeplechase
• Nitender Rawat – men’s marathon
• M Sreeshankar – men’s long Jump
• Muhammed Anees Yahiya – men’s long Jump
• Abdulla Aboobacker – men’s triple jump
• Praveen Chithravel – men’s triple jump
• Eldhose Paul – men’s triple jump
• Tajinderpal Singh Toor – men’s shot put
• Neeraj Chopra – men’s javelin throw
• DP Manu – men’s javelin throw
• Rohit Yadav – men’s javelin throw
• Sandeep Kumar – men’s 10km race walk
• Amit Khatri – men’s 10km race walk
• Amoj Jacob – men’s 4x400m relay
• Noah Nirmal Tom – men’s 4x400m relay
• Arokia Rajiv – men’s 4x400m relay
• Muhammed Ajmal – men’s 4x400m relay
• Naganathan Pandi – men’s 4x400m relay
• Rajesh Ramesh – men’s 4x400m relay

Women

• Dhanalakshmi Sekar – women’s 100m and 4x100m relay
• Jyothi Yarraji – women’s 100m hurdles
• Aishwarya B – women’s long jump and triple jump
• Ancy Sojan – women’s long jump
• Manpreet Kaur – women’s shot put
• Navjeet Kaur Dhilllon – women’s discus throw
• Seema Punia – women’s discus throw
• Annu Rani – women’s javelin throw
• Shilpa Rani – women’s javelin throw
• Manju Bala Singh – women’s hammer throw
• Sarita Romit Singh – women’s hammer throw
• Bhawna Jat – women’s 10km race walk
• Priyanka Goswami – women’s 10km race walk
• Hima Das – women’s 4x100m relay
• Dutee Chand – women’s 4x100m relay
• Srabani Nanda – women’s 4x100m relay
• MV Jilna – women’s 4x100m relay
• NS Simi – women’s 4x100m relay.

Badminton

Women

• PV Sindhu (women’s)
• Aakarshi Kashyap (women’s)
• Treesa Jolly (women’s)
• Gayatri Gopichand (women’s)
• Ashwini Ponappa (women’s)

Men

• Lakshya Sen (men’s)
• Kidambi Srikanth (men’s)
• Satwiksairaj Rankireddy (men’s)
• Chirag Shetty (men’s)
• B Sumeeth Reddy (men’s)

Boxing

Commonwealth Games medalists Amit Panghal and Mohammad Hussamuddin booked their seats for Birmingham 2022 along with five-time Asian medalists Shiva Thapa.

• Amit Panghal – men’s 51kg
• Mohammad Hussamuddin – men’s 57kg
• Shiva Thapa – men’s 63.5kg
• Rohit Tokas – men’s 67kg
• Sumit Kundu – men’s 75kg
• Ashish Chaudhary – men’s 80kg
• Sanjeet – men’s 92kg
• Sagar – men’s 92+kg
• Nitu – women’s 48kg
• Nikhat Zareen – women’s 50kg
• Jaismine – women’s 60kg
• Lovlina Borgohain – women’s 70kg.

Cricket

After the Kuala Lumpur commonwealth games (1998), cricket will feature again at Birmingham in 2022. In Kuala Lumpur, a men’s cricket 50-over tournament was played but this time a women’s T20I format will be played in CWG 2022.

The eight-team affair consists of hosts England, Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, South Africa, Barbados, and Sri Lanka.

Hockey

Based on their FIH rankings, Indian men’s hockey and women’s hockey teams have already qualified for the Commonwealth Games 2022. The men’s and women’s hockey competitions will be 10-team affairs.

Indian women’s hockey team had won gold at the CWG in 2002 while the men won two silver medals (2010 and 2014) and are still in search of their first gold.

Table Tennis

The Indian table tennis team for Birmingham 2022 comprises eight players and they are selected from a week-long national camp held in May.

Men

Achanta Sharath Kamal, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, Sanil Shetty, Harmeet Desai

Women

Manika Batra, Diya Chitale , Sreeja Akula, Reeth Rishya 

Weightlifting

Tokyo Olympics silver medallist and a star of commonwealth games, Mirabai Chanu will lead the 12-member team.

Women

Mirabai Chanu – women’s 49kg, Bindyarani Devi – women’s 55kg, Poppy Hazarika – women’s 59kg, Usha Kumara – women’s 87kg, Purnima Pandey – women’s +87kg

Men

• Sanket Mahadev -55kg
• Chanambam Rishikanta Singh – 55kg
• Jeremy Lalrinnunga – 67kg
• Achinta Sheuli –  73kg
• Ajay Singh –  81kg
• Vikas Thakur – 96kg
• Ragala Venkat Rahul – 96kg

Wrestling

Women

• Pooja Gehlot (50kg)
• Vinesh Phogat (53kg)
• Anshu Malik (57kg)
• Sakshi Malik – women’s 62kg
• Divya Kakran – women’s 68kg
• Pooja Sihag – women’s 76kg.

Men

• Ravi Kumar Dahiya – men’s 57kg
• Bajrang Punia – men’s 65kg
• Naveen – men’s 74kg
• Deepak Punia – men’s 86kg
• Deepak – men’s 97kg.

Swimming

Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj will lead a four-member Indian swimming team at the CWG. The other two members of the team are Kushagra Rawat and MP’s Advait.

List of competing countries in Commonwealth Games 2022

1. Anguilla
2. Antigua and Barbuda
3. Australia
4. Bahamas
5. Bangladesh
6. Barbados
7. Belize
8. Bermuda
9. Botswana
10. British Virgin Islands
11. Brunei
12. Cameroon
13. Canada
14. Cayman Islands
15. Cook Islands
16. Cyprus
17. Dominica
18. England
19. Eswatini
20. Falkland Islands
21. Fiji
22. Ghana
23. Gibraltar
24. Grenada
25. Guernsey
26. Guyana
27. India
28. Isle of Man
29. Jamaica
30. Jersey
31. Kenya
32. Kiribati
33. Lesotho
34. Malawi
35. Malaysia
36. Maldives
37. Malta
38. Mauritius
39. Montserrat
40. Mozambique
41. Namibia
42. Nauru
43. New Zealand
44. Nigeria
45. Niue
46. Norfolk Island
47. Northern Ireland
48. Pakistan
49. Papua New Guinea
50. Rwanda
51. Samoa
52. Scotland
53. Seychelles
54. Sierra Leone
55. Singapore
56. Solomon Islands
57. South Africa
58. Sri Lanka
59. St Helena
60. St Kitts and Nevis
61. St Lucia
62. St Vincent and the Grenadines
63. Tanzania
64. The Gambia
65. Tonga
66. Trinidad and Tobago
67. Turks and Caicos Islands
68. Tuvalu
69. Uganda
70. Vanuatu
71. Wales
72. Zambia

READ | World Athletics Championships 2022 – Neeraj Chopra to spearhead the Indian contingent

For more latest updates and stories on Indian sports (and athletes), subscribe to the KreedOn network today-

KreedOn: The Voice of #Indiansport