Whenever the Commonwealth Games were held on British soil, the Indian players gave their best and it is being speculated that despite not including the shooting games, they are going to set new records in the Games which will start from July 28 in Birmingham. India has so far participated in the Commonwealth Games five times on British soil and except for Glasgow 2014, they have achieved better results than its previous performance every time.
India first participated in the Commonwealth Games in 1934 which were held in London. India had then participated in only two sports athletics and wrestling. Wrestler Rashid Anwar won a bronze medal in the 74kg category to give India its first medal of the Games. India managed to win two gold medals for the first time at the 1958 Games in Cardiff, Wales. The gold medals were awarded to India by Flying Sikh Milkha Singh and wrestler Leela Ram. Wrestler Laxmi Kant Pandey also won the silver medal.
India had previously failed to win no medals in Sydney (1938) and Vancouver (1954). After which the Commonwealth Games have also been held in Britain in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1970 in which India won 12 medals. These include 5 gold medals. India had bagged all its five gold and three silver medals in wrestling. From the Indian side, then wrestlers Ved Prakash, Sudesh Kumar, Uday Chand, Mukhtiar Singh and Harishchandra Birajdar received gold medals. It was in Edinburgh that the Commonwealth Games were held in 1986, in which India did not participate.
After which the Commonwealth Games were played on British soil in Manchester in 2002 and India also showed its best performance at that time. In Manchester 2002, India managed to win a total of 69 medals including 30 gold medals. India then finished fourth after Australia and hosts England and Canada. India had won 14 gold medals in shooting in Manchester but the sport has not been included in Birmingham 2022, which will hurt India the most. In Manchester, the Indian women's hockey team made history by winning the gold medal by defeating England 3-2 in the final.
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