Commonwealth Games grows in stature as years go by

The Commonwealth Games may not have as rich a sporting history as the Olympics but over the years, the event has grown in stature from just being a sporting extravaganza for British colonies by throwing up some world-class athletes.

India have participated in 14 of the 18 editions, the first time being in London, 1934 when it was known as the British Empire Games.

Rashid Anwar went into the record books helping India open its account when the welterweight wrestler won a bronze medal in the second edition in 1934 where the country took part as a British Colony.

The first ever gold medal for India was won by 'Flying Sikh' Milkha Singh who won the 440 yards track event in the sixth edition of the Games in 1958 in Cadriff.

Till then, the 1958 Games was India's best ever as the country went on to win a second gold, courtesy cyclist Norman Sheil in Individual Pursuit, and a silver through grappler Lachmi Kant Pandey in the welterweight category.

New Delhi won the right to host the 2010 Games by defeating the Canadian city of Hamilton by 46 votes to 22 at the CGF General Assembly held in Montego Bay in November 2003.

This will be the first time India will host the Games and only the second time the event will held in Asia after the 1998 Kuala Lumpur edition.

The event was first held in 1930 under the title of the British Empire Games in Hamilton, Canada.

The extravaganza was renamed as the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1954, the British Commonwealth Games in 1970, and was given its current title in 1978.

Having started off in 1934 with just one bronze medal, India have come a long way winning a total of 271 medals --102 gold, 97 silver and 72 bronze medals -- in the 14 of the 18 editions that they competed in.

India finished fourth in the medal tables of the last two editions. In fact, the country's campaign in Manchester, 2002 was its best ever with 69 medals, 30 of them gold, courtesy a power-packed show by the shooters, weightlifters and wrestlers.

Shooters won 14 gold medals, weightlifters 11 and wrestlers three, pugilist Mohammad Ali Qamar won gold and the women's hockey team clinched the team gold medal to make it 30, making it the best in terms of medals tally.

Not as impressive as the 2002 edition, India still managed to score a half-century of medals and finish fourth in the previous edition in Melbourne.

Of the 22 gold medals, shooters led the table with 16. India also won seven silver and four bronze medals.

Paddler Achanta Sharath Kamal clinched a gold, while India also won gold in table tennis men's team event and bronze in women's event.

In weightlifting, India won three gold, five silver and a bronze.

It was also the first time boxer Akhil Kumar rose to prominence by clinching a gold in the bantamweight category while Vijender Singh and Harpreet Singh won silver medals in welterweight and heavyweight categories respectively.

Two bronze medals were won by Jitender Kumar and Varghese Johnson.

India won 25 medals and finished seventh with a 7-10-8 gold-silver-bronze account at the Kuala Lumpur Games in 1998 with Indian shooters and weightlifters gathering most of the medals.

Jaspal Rana, Ashok Pandit, Mansher Singh and Manavnit Singh Sandhu, Roopa Unnikrishnan won four gold medals for India in various shooting events.

Lifters Dharamraj Wilson, Arumugam K Pandian and Satheesha Rai won the remaining three gold medals.

India won other medals in boxing, badminton, shooting and weightlifting.

In the 1994 edition in Victoria, shooters and weightlifters helped India win a total of six gold medals.

Jaspal Rana won two of them in pistol events, while Mansher Singh clinched the gold in the trap event.

Weightlifter Badathala Adisekhar got two gold medals in various events while Murgesan Veerasamy won the sixth gold for India.

In total, India had won 25 medals, including 12 silver and seven bronze as they finished sixth.

Pipped by New Zealand in the bid to host the 1990 edition, India did not let this affect their performance as they came fifth in Auckland with 13-8-11 gold-silver-bronze count.

Weightlifters had won 12 of the 13 gold medals.

India boycotted the 1986 edition in Edinburgh, supporting a large number of African, Asian and Caribbean countries in protesting against the then British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's stand on the country's sporting relations with South Africa.

India also did not take part in the Games held in 1930, 1950 and 1962.

Having gained Independence in 1947 after a prolonged struggle, India skipped the Games in 1950.

A month after the war aginst China ended, the seventh Games began in Perth in 1962, as India gave it a miss.

India drew a blank in the Games held in Sydney, 1938 and Vancouver, 1954.

India finished ninth in the 1966 Games held in Kingston with 10 medals (3-4-3). The wrestlers won the three gold medals, two silver and two bronze medals in various categories.

At the Edinburgh Games in 1970, India finished sixth with 12 medals (5-3-4) and nine of them were won by the wrestlers in various categories.

Wrestlers continued with their fine form as India finished sixth with 15 medals (4-8-3) at the 1974 edition in Christchurch.

From 1978 in Edmonton, it came to be known as the Commonwealth Games as India clinched 15 medals (5-5-5) to finish sixth.

Once again, wrestlers won most of the medals -- nine --that included a hattrick of gold by Ashok Kumar.

In Brisbane in 1982, India won 16 (5-8-8) to finish sixth.

Having started off in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada, where 11 countries sent 400 athletes to take part in six sports and 59 events, the Commonwealth Games have come a long way as the 19th edition in New Delhi is set to be the biggest ever.

According to an estimate, the Games cost is more than a whopping Rs70,000 crore (USD 15.47 billion), making the 2010 Commonwealth Games the most expensive ever.

In terms of participation, more than 6,700 athletes and officials from across 71 Commonwealth nations have confirmed that they will be attending the mega sporting event thus surpassing Melbourne that hosted it in 2006.

4,049 athletes had competed in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

It was Reverend Astley Cooper, who for the first time proposed for a common platform of sports for the members belonging to the British Empire with an aim to increase better understanding and goodwill among them.

The idea for organising Commonwealth Games took shape during the Olympic Games of 1928 as Canada got the rights of the meet then known as the British Empire Games.