Here's how India's 2022 medal tally is 'subpar' in the last six CWG editions

India wrapped up its Commonwealth Games campaign with a total of 61 medals this year, five less than their tally four years ago at Gold Coast.

India’s 61-medal haul in the 2022 Commonwealth Games included 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze.

Medal tally for top 5 countries in 2022:

In 2018, India had fared at No. 3 with 66 medals including 26 gold.

While Australia’s tally also dropped by 20 medals this year compared with 2018, the medal count for England and Canada saw a sharp rise this year.

Medal tally for top 5 countries in 2018:

In the 2014 Commonwealth Games also, India had more medals than in 2022 but fewer gold medals. India had won 64 medals including 15 gold in 2014.

In 2014, England was the top winner while India stood at No. 5.

Medal tally for top 5 countries in 2014:

In 2010, when Delhi hosted the Commonwealth Games, India was No. 2 in the medal tally with the second-largest gold haul. India had won 38 gold medals out of a total of 101 medals in 2010.

England won 142 medals but had only 37 gold to fare at No. 3.

Medal tally for top 5 countries in 2010:

In 2006, India had won 50 medals including 22 gold, while in 2002 India’s tally stood at 69 with 30 gold medals.

From the medal-count point of view, India in 2022 could not better its performance since 2002 across six Commonwealth Games editions.

For the next Commonwealth Games in 2026, India’s performance will be hit severely if wrestling is denied a place in the Games. In 2022, Indian wrestlers won a total of 12 medals.

Under new rules designed to encourage cities to bid for the Commonwealth Games, the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) requires that only two sports must be played in future Games: athletics and swimming.

Despite this, 16 sports were agreed to for the 2026 Victorian Games, with a further seven under discussion between the governing bodies and the Victorian Government.

The list includes T20 cricket, for which a women’s tournament was held at Birmingham 2022, alongside the following: swimming and diving, athletics, badminton, boxing, beach volleyball, cycling, gymnastics, hockey, lawn bowls, netball, rugby sevens, squash, table tennis, triathlon and weightlifting.

In April 2022, the Indian Olympic Association demanded that the 2026 Games also include archery, shooting and wrestling.

The final list of sports is expected to be announced by the end of 2022.

In July 2022, the Victorian Government announced that it had opened an expressions-of-interest process for the inclusion of sports beyond the initial 16 planned.