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Extraordinary day for India at CWG 2026: 16 medals take them to 4th on tally as boxers set a new record with 7 gold
But despite the wonderful showing on Saturday, the Indians are not going to win as many medals as they did in Birmingham for totally different reasons.
India had their biggest single-day haul yet in the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games on Saturday, and just like that they broke into the top five on the medal tally. At the start of the day, the Indians were placed 10th with 23 medals but by the end of the day, they were fourth with 13 gold (8 on Saturday), 17 silver (five-medal improvement) and 9 bronze (three-medal improvement). Basically, India won 16 medals on the day and saw a jump of six places on the medal tally.
It was a fantastic day for the Indians to all intents and purposes. Boxing provided the biggest yield. 10 medals, including 7 gold, came via it. Sakshi Chaudhary (51kg), Preeti Pawar (54kg), Jaismine Lamboria (57kg), Priya Ghanghas (60kg), Arundhati Choudhary (70kg), Sachin Siwach (60kg) and Ankush Panghal (80kg) were the gold haulers. Meanwhile, Olympic medallist Lovlina Borgohain (75kg), Jadumani Singh (55kg) and Narender Berwal (90+kg) picked up the boxing silver for the country.
With 10 boxing medals on the day, India set a new record. Never before had a nation in CWG history won 10 medals in boxing in a single edition. Their seven gold is similarly a record too. Indian women won five of those seven golds. Kudos to all of them!
Then Praveen Chithravel and Selva Prabhu Thirumaran won a silver and a bronze, respectively in men’s triple jump. Gulveer Singh, meanwhile, won a bronze in men’s 5,000m and became the first Indian track athlete to win two medals in a single CWG edition. He had earlier won a silver in the men’s 10,000m. In judo, India’s success story continued with Unnati Sharma picking up a bronze in women’s 63kg.
Among para-athletes, Soman Rana and Shubham Juyal hauled in gold and silver respectively, in the men’s F57 shot put. Rana came up with his season-best throw of 13.40m to make the country proud. Juyal wasn’t much behind with a throw of 13.28 to make it a historic 1-2 for India.
But it won't be the same as Birmingham 2022!
Despite a fantastic Saturday, the Indians are not going to better their performance in the last edition, in terms of the number of medals for sure. They had finished fourth four years ago in Birmingham with a haul of 61 medals that included 22 gold, 16 silver and 23 bronze. Sunday is going to bring the curtain down on the event, with not many medals up for grabs for the Indians. The biggest reason for the medals dip is the exclusion of several sports in this edition, which India is traditionally good at. As many as nine sports were dropped for Glasgow 2026, including wrestling, badminton and hockey.
In light of that, India should be proud of their show. On Sunday, judo, cycling and para-cycling events can bring a few more medals, and they wouldn’t be unhappy if they can finish in the same position as at the start of the day.
