How India Prepared for the 2022 Commonwealth Games

The 2022 Commonwealth Games concluded a week ago, but there are some details that readers like you would love to know and understand or questions that you would prefer answered. After all, it’s always satisfying to share some information with others, isn't it?

So what kind of preparations India and its athletes for the 2022 Commonwealth Games (CWG) have done?

Here is your one-stop list, dear readers!

After the 2020 Olympics that was held in Tokyo, the athletes went to full-fledged training including training at national camps and multiple international exposures in training and competition. The Government of India helped facilitate 111 exposure trips in disciplines that India competed in the 2022 Commonwealth Games at Birmingham.

Budget

• Rs 7.84 crore was spent on the national camp for athletics, which lasted for over 250 days that essentially allowed the athletes to stay in the groove even though the world was still under lockdown.

• On wrestling, over Rs. 5 crores was spent on the national camp, organised across various Sports Authority Of India (SAI) locations in the country.

• The hockey team, both men’s and women’s categories, got additional support of Rs 3.15 crore.

Training Centers

• The Indian government funded 111 exposure trips for the athletes across various disciplines besides conducting year-round national camps.

• The badminton team, led by Kidambi Srikanth and PV Sindhu, has played over 26 international tournaments, and all travel expenses are paid by the government.

• The wrestling team participated in five international tournaments

• The cycling team shifted their base to Slovenia and Portugal for over three months.

• More than Rs. 5 crores was spent on procuring high-standard weightlifting equipment, boxing gear, video and analysis software for the hockey team, and strength and conditioning equipment.

Individual Athletes

• The Olympic medalist, Mirabai Chanu was sent to the US and trained at Squat University under the specialist Dr Aaron Horschig, a physical therapist, strength & conditioning coach, speaker and writer.

• The rest of the weightlifting team arrived in Birmingham a month ahead of the CWG Games for better acclimatisation.

• Steeplechaser Avinash Sable, who recently completed in the World Athletics Championships final and several other long-distance runners trained under the American coach, Scott Simons.

• PV Sindhu, who recently won the prestigious Singapore Open title, was coached by Park Tae-Sang, a former Korean singles shuttler.

• Tokyo Olympics silver medalist, Ravi Dahiya trained in Bulgaria before competing in tournaments across Turkey and Mongolia. This international exposure definitely helped him in clinching gold at the 2022 CWG.

• Bajrang Puniya's travels to Turkey and Kazakhstan for international competitions were financed by the government. He spent 18 days in Iran, almost a month in Russia, and 22 days at Michigan University and trained under some of the best coaches in the world.

• A total of 215 athletes represented India at CWG.

• The games ended with India ranking fourth behind Australia, England and Canada with 186 gold medals, 178 silver medals, and 152 bronze medals.

Read the history of the Commonwealth Games and the highlights of this year's games held in Birmingham, UK.