Commonwealth games event is the flagship sports event of the Commonwealth of Nations, an intergovernmental organisation that consists of the former members of the British Empire.

The 2018 iteration of this event was hosted by Gold Coast in, Australia and had more than 10,000 guests that included officials, media and 6600 athletes (including 300 Para-athletes!) from 71 Commonwealth nations and territories including 53 countries participating.

Commonwealth Games 2018 featured 18 sports and 7 para-sports, making it the largest integrated sports event in the history This event was historic as this was the first time an international multi-sport event achieved gender equality by having the same number of events for sportspersons of both genders. This was achieved by adding seven new events for women to the existing sports including women’s rugby sevens and beach volleyball that made their debut in Commonwealth and three new weight classes to women’s boxing, India’s most favourite sport.

This was the 21^st edition of the commonwealth Games which are held every four years. The official slogan for the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia was ‘Share the Dream’ and the mascot was a blue, surfing koala called Borobi.

This year, commonwealth games proved to be especially eventful for India as India bagged the third position in the medal tally by winning 26 Gold medals. All the Indian athletes performed exceptionally well and managed to make India very proud, shattering the common notion that India can never be the world leader when it comes to sports. India won 66 medals in all; 26 Gold, 20 silver medals and an equal number of bronze medals. What’s more exciting is the fact that these medals were achieved not only in sports like boxing, weight lifting and shooting that are considered India’s forte’ but also some of the other sports such as table tennis and badminton. The rising stars did India proud.

We often hear about the lack of basic infrastructure, amenities and exposure available to budding sports persons at the basic level. I am sure, the more these sportsmen and sportswomen are able to perform, there would be better chances of private and government organizations coming forward to provide basic training facilities at grass root level. It is often seen that popular sports get all the required attention and support. All the money is also spent on these so-called popular sports. Ironically, the sports that need attention and money to be brought to a certain level are the ones that are often ignored.

With these youngsters showing metal, authorities will also not leave any stone unturned to feed the hunger for more victories and more medals in the years to come. Surely, the next commonwealth games will see India at a better pedestal carving route for more Olympic victories.

So, until the next Commonwealth Games that are to be held in Birmingham in July – August 2022, we must get our act together and strive to perform even better than we did this time!