Boxing boom, judo show power India to strong Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2026 campaign

India overcame the absence of several traditional medalwinning sports to surpass expectations at the 2026 Commonwealth Games signing off fourth with 39 medals on the back of a recordbreaking boxing campaign a historic showing in judo and another strong performance by its para athletesWith the Games reduced to just 10 sports leaving out wrestling shooting badminton and hockey Indias chances of a topfive finish looked uncertain before the Games beganHowever the 122member contingent returned with 13 gold 17 silver and nine bronze medals underlining the countrys growing depth beyond its traditional strengthsBoxing led the wayThe Indian pugilists produced their bestever Commonwealth Games campaign collecting a record seven gold medals and 10 podium finishes overall While the women lived up to expectations the men also delivered consistently to make it Indias most successful sport in GlasgowThe performance however must be viewed in context The absence of several European and Central Asian nations meant the competition was not as deep as at the Olympics or World Championships Even so India made full use of the opportunityJudo was another major positiveLong considered a fringe medal sport it produced Indias bestever Commonwealth Games performance Asmita Deys gold won months after losing her father and Harsh Singhs title reflected the steady progress the sport has made over the last few yearsPara sport continued its upward trajectoryFrom powerlifting to athletics Indian para athletes once again proved that their success at recent Paralympics was no coincidence The medals across disciplines reflected the growing strength of the countrys para sports programmeAthletics presented a mixed pictureOlympic champion Neeraj Chopra returning from injury settled for silver and a few other medal hopefuls failed to meet expectations At the same time the sport produced some of Indias most memorable performancesTejaswin Shankar fought back from a knee injury that ended his high jump campaign to win a decathlon medal Gulveer Singh emerged as Indias only double medallist with his distancerunning exploits while Murali Sreeshankar marked his return from a lengthy injury layoff with another Commonwealth silverWeightlifting one of Indias most dependable medalproducing sports had a quieter GamesAfter returning with 10 medals including three golds in Birmingham four years ago the lifters managed eight podium finishes but only one gold won by Mirabai ChanuCompeting with a reduced squad after quota cuts linked to previous antidoping sanctions the team still delivered a respectable haul but fell short of its own high standardsThere were disappointments elsewhereLawn bowls could not build on the historic gold and silver won in Birmingham while cycling and swimming continued to search for the breakthrough performances that have remained elusiveAthletics too will believe it missed opportunities to add to the medal tallyBut Indias overall performance suggested its medal prospects are no longer tied to just a few established disciplinesThe absence of wrestling and other sports could have significantly reduced the medal haul Instead boxing delivered in unprecedented fashion judo emerged as a genuine medalwinning sport and para athletes continued to strengthen Indias positionEqually significant was the contribution from emerging athletes With Chopra below his best and weightlifting contributing fewer gold medals than usual Indias overall tally remained healthy because newer faces stepped up across disciplinesThat will be the biggest positive for India as it prepares to host the centenary Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad in 2030 Glasgow showed that the countrys medal base is widening giving it more avenues for success than ever beforeThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever