India’s badminton medals at the Commonwealth Games

The sport made its debut at the 1966 Commonwealth Games and ever since, has gained approval for 14 successive editions of the event. India has been a consistent performer in the badminton realm of the event. The only phase where India failed to win medals is between 1986 to 1994 when no Indian shuttler entered the Games. Here is an update on India's performance in different editions of the event. 

1966 Kingston Games

Dinesh Khanna won a bronze medal for India by defeating Scotsman McCoig with a score-line of 15-7, 15-8. Other Indian shuttlers competing such as Nandu Natekar and Suresh Goel, exited before the semi-finals.

1970 Edinburgh Games

The Indian quarter-finalist in the 1966 games, Suresh Goel, replicated Dinesh Khanna's achievement and won a bronze medal by thrashing Ray Sharp 15-9,15-12.

1978 Edmonton Games

Prakash Padukone met expectations and clinch the first badminton gold medal for India at CWG. His journey was replete with easy wins backed up by score lines of 15-0 and 15-1. Meanwhile, the women's doubles pair of Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakur Singh won a bronze and became the first Indian woman shuttlers to win a CWG medal.

1982 Brisbane Games

In Prakash's absence, Syed Modi held the torch and won gold by beating Nick Yates 7-15, 15-6, 15-5 in the finals.

1998 Kuala Lumpur Games

After a 16-year-long break, India was at it again as Pullela Gopichand won Bronze in the men's singles event, and Aparna Popat secured silver in the women's singles draw.

2002 Manchester Games

Aparna Popat fought to win bronze while the others gave underwhelming performances. 

2006 Melbourne Games

Chetan Anand bagged a bronze medal in the men's singles event followed by the mixed team defeating New Zealand in the bronze medal match. 

2010 Delhi Games

The India shuttlers took away four medals which included two gold medals for the first time. Saina Nehwal became the first Indian woman to grab a gold medal in badminton at the CWG. After that, the partnership of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa won gold in the women's doubles. Parupalli Kashyap won the bronze medal in men's singles while the mixed team secured silver.

2014 Glasgow Games

Parupalli Kashyap ended up winning gold at the event where India won four medals again. Gurusai Dutt and a young PV Sindu won a bronze medal each. The pairing of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa settled for silver. 

2018 Gold Coast Games

In the 2018 edition, the mixed team won gold for the first time after defeating Malaysia while Kidambi Srikanth secured a silver. Young stars Chirag and Satwik became the first-ever Indian men's pair to win a CWG medal by winning silver. Saina Nehwal and PV Sindhu won gold and silver in an all-India final while Ashwini Ponappa and Sikki Reddy clinched bronze in the women's doubles.