Around 50 of the 215 sportspeople representing India in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games are from South India.
The 22nd edition of multi-sporting event will be go on from 28 July,2022 to 8 August,2022 in Birmingham. (South First)
PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Nikhat Zareen, Murali Sreeshankar, Sharath Achanta Kamal, and Srihari Nataraj are expected to be the star names for India at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
One thing common to these star players — for whom 138 crore people will be cheering and praying during individual or group events — is that they are from South India.
The 215-member Indian contingent is all set to participate in the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games (CWG) starting on 28 July. Indian athletes will be contesting in various events across 15 disciplines.
Around 50 of the 215 sportspeople representing India — apart from the hockey men’s and women’s teams and the debut women’s cricket team — are from South India.
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) announced PV Sindhu — a two-time Olympic medallist — as India’s flagbearer for the opening ceremony of the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
PV Sindhu is a two-times Olympics medalist with silver in 2016 Rio and bronze in 2020 Tokyo. (Creative Commons)
The country is confident that Sindhu, the most decorated player in the Indian contingent, will bring back home medals because she won the Singapore 500 Series earlier this month and would continue the momentum by winning her fourth title of the year.
In an interview with Sportstar, the ace shuttler from Telangana said winning the Singapore Open right before the CWG was working as a confidence booster for her.
The 27-year-old is eyeing the gold this year as she had to be satisfied with silver in the 2018 Gold Coast Edition in Australia, ceding the top spot to Saina Nehwal of India.
Also, her archrivals from China, Chinese Taipei, and Europe are not playing in the games.
Sindhu will also be a part of the mixed-doubles event to defend her team’s 2018 gold medal.
All eyes will be on Kidambi Srikanth, the former world number one, during his events at Birmingham.
Hopes are high after Srikanth finished second in the 2021 BWF World Championships in Spain’s Huelva.
The current world number seven — from Andhra Pradesh’s Konaseema district — played a crucial role in India’s maiden Thomas Cup victory in Thailand earlier this year. During the tournament, he won back-to-back matches when the Indian team needed it the most.
In Birmingham, 29-year-old Srikanth will face tough competition from Lakshya Sen and Loh Kean Yew of Singapore.
After winning a silver medal at the last CWG edition, the doubles pair of Satwik Rankireddy (Andhra Pradesh) and Chirag Shetty (Mumbai-based) has provided some nailbiting performances in the past four years.
India men’s and women’s badminton squad bound for 2022 CWG — (top row, from left to right) Chirag Shetty, Satwik SaiRaj Rankireddy and Kidami Srikanth. (Twitter / BAI Media)
The doubles duo is currently ranked eighth in the world.
They have established themselves as giant-killers on the badminton court.
The pair’s last historic performance was in the 2022 Thomas Cup, where they brought India back into the contest after initial setbacks against Malaysia and Denmark in the quarterfinals and semifinal.
The doubles partners lost just a single match out of six on their road to winning the 2022 Thomas Cup title.
The two told reporters before leaving for Birmingham that their goal was to change the colour of the medal to gold this time.
Nikhat Zareen, the reigning IBA Women’s World Boxing Champion, is the favourite in the 52-kg category.
Nikhat Zareen (3rd from right) would like to repeat the feat from 2022 World Boxing Championships. (Twitter / Nikhat Zareen)
The pugilist from Nizamabad in Telangana will be making her maiden appearance at the 22nd edition of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
Zareen recently said she enters the ring to win.
Carrying the weight of huge expectations on her shoulders, the 26-year-old added that she was aware of the responsibility and expectations of people back home from her after she was crowned the world champion.
Zareen is only the fifth Indian boxer to win a medal at the Worlds, after Mary Kom, Laishram Sarita Devi, Jenny Lalremliani, and Lekha KC.
The legendary Indian paddler from Tamil Nadu’s Chennai is eyeing his ninth CWG medal after successful stints at the previous editions — four gold medals, three silver, and one bronze.
Sharath would be focusing especially on adding another gold to his kitty in the men’s single event.
The veteran paddler, participating in his fifth Commonwealth Games, will also defend his gold medals in the men’s, mixed doubles and men’s doubles events.
Sathiyan Gnanasekaran (Chennai) and Sanil Shetty (Mumbai-based) — both gold medalists from the 2018 CWG — will also feature alongside Sharath in all four events.
Table Tennis Team India! Ready for our challenge ahead. Let’s go!
Jai Hind 🇮🇳 🏓@birminghamcg22 @WeAreTeamIndia pic.twitter.com/CVljiP1w0I— Bhavina Patel PLY (@BhavinaOfficial) July 26, 2022
Coming in from the historic double triumph at the 2022 Glasgow World Championships — gold medal in the women’s doubles event — Dipika Pallikal Karthik and Joshna Chinappa will try to emulate their performance in Bermingham.
Joshna Chinappa (left) and Dipika Pallikal Karthik (right) celebrating after winning a shot at the 2022 Glasgow World Championships. (Twitter / Dipika Pallikal)
The doubles winners of the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth gold medal finished second at the 2018 edition of the games.
Kottayam-born Pallikal, who won the 2022 mixed doubles at the World Championships with Indian squash ace Saurav Ghoshal, will be featuring in women and mixed-doubles categories along with Chinappa and Ghoshal.
Meanwhile, Chinappa, who hails from Chennai, will partner with Ramit Tandon in mixed doubles.
The current world number 12 will also contest in the women’s single category.
Most of the Indian track athlete squad is from southern states, especially Kerala. After returning home in the 2018 edition without a single medal, the contestants would be hungry for a podium finish this time.
Kerala boy Murali Sreeshankar is India’s best bet in the long-jump event. The national-record holder finished seventh at the recently-concluded Oregon World Athletics Championships after becoming the first Indian to qualify for the finals.
Triple-jumper Eldhose Paul from Kerala’s Thiruvananthapuram is another medal contender. The 25-year-old finished ninth in the men’s triple jump final in Oregon.
One of the best athletes of the current generation, Jyothi Yarraji from Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam is another medal hopeful for the country. The women’s 100-meter hurdler broke the national record multiple times in June this year.
National Record Alert 🚨
Our young champ #JyothiYarraji breaks her NR once again at Harry Schulting Games. She clocked a timing of 13.04s (Earlier 13.11s) in 100m Hurdles event👏🏼
3rd NR for Jyothi in 16 days (from 13.23 to 13.04). What an achievement 🙂
Stronger 💪🏻 & Better ⬆️ pic.twitter.com/Whf9Fr4jYQ
— SAI Media (@Media_SAI) May 26, 2022
Indian athletics is also banking on a medal from the 4x400m squad of Amoj Jacob, Noah Nirmal Tom, Muhammed Ajmal, Naganathan Pandi, and Rajesh Ramesh.
Noah Nirmal Tom and Muhammed Ajmal are from Kerala, while Naganathan Pandi and Rajesh Ramesh are from Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka’s javelin thrower DP Manu is also hoping to win a medal in the absence of his compatriot and Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra.
Sajan Prakash from Kerala’s Idukki and Srihari Nataraj from Karnataka’s Bengaluru will represent the country in swimming.
Srihari Natraj (3rd from right) and Sajan Prakash (right most) will be hoping to open India’s account in swimming at Commonwealth Games with a podium finish. (Twitter / Sajan Prakash)
Nataraj will be contesting in men’s 50m, 100m, and 200m butterfly categories, while Prakash will be in the men’s 50m, 100m, and 200m backstroke categories.
Nataraj won gold in the 50m and 100m backstroke events of the 2022 Singapore National Swimming Championships.
Two-time Olympian Prakash bagged the gold in the 200m butterfly event at the 2022 Danish Open.
India so far has not won any CWG medal in swimming events, but hopes are high this time.
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