The Indian contingent for the Commonwealth Games 2022 will look to improve the country’s medal tally in the mega event which will kick start on July 29. This will be the 22nd edition of the quadrennial event first played in 1930 in Hamilton, Canada.
India is regarded as one of the strongest competitors in CWG 2022, even though Shooting is not part of the sports roster. England, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand are the other top medal contenders.
Among the participant countries, India is a strong performer. The athletes will hope to secure the maximum number of medals for the fans back home. The 215-strong contingent will involve multiple Olympic medallists like P.V. Sindhu, Mirabai Chanu and more.
Furthermore, eyes will also be on the Indian women’s cricket team that will aim to win the T20 International tournament and secure first-ever cricket gold at the Commonwealth Games for India.
Let’s have a look at the schedule (all times in Indian Standard Time) of the Indian athletes for the quadrennial event starting in less than 48 hours.
Day 1
Indian paddlers will be up in action for the team’s event on Day 1
The Men’s and Women’s Lawn Bowl team will be kicking off the proceedings for India in the Group Stage for the event at 5:30 pm. The Men’s team for the event will be represented by Sunil Bahadur, Chandan Kumar Singh, Navneet Singh, Dinesh Kumar, and Mridul Borgohain while the women’s team will be represented by Pinki, Tania Choudhury, Rupa Rani Tirkey, Nayan Moni Saikia, and Lovely Choubey.
Next up will be the Table Tennis team where the men’s and women’s team event qualification Round 1 will be held at 6:30 pm. The Men’s team will be represented by Sharath Kamal, Gnanasekaran Sathiyan, Harmeet Desai, and Sanil Shetty, whilst the women’s team will be represented by Manika Batra, Sreeja Akula, Reeth Rishya, and Diya Chitale.
The Indian men’s swimmers will then head up for their respective qualifiers in the swimming event at 7:30 pm. The trio of Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj, and Kushagra Rawat will represent India in the events.
The Indian women’s cricket team will make their debut in the quadrennial event on the very first day as they play World Champions Australia in the first group stage game at 8 pm. Meanwhile, the Triathlon Women’s Individual (Sprint Distance) Final will also take place around the same time at 8 pm where Sanjana Joshi and Pragnya Mohan represent India in the event.
Around 9 pm, two of India’s men boxers will play in their respective weight categories to make it for the pre-quarters. Shiva Thapa and Sumit Kundu will line up for the Indian boxing contingent on that day. Further, at the same moment, the Indian men’s and women’s squash players will play their respective singles bouts. Ramit Tandon, Sourav Ghoshal, and Abhay Singh will represent India in the men’s singles events whilst Joshna Chinappa, Anahat Singh, and Sunayna Kuruvilla will represent the nation in the women’s category.
At 11 pm, the Indian badminton team will face Pakistan in the mixed team event qualifying Round 1. The likes of PV Sindhu and Lakshya Sen are all expected to take part in this event. Two other Indian men’s boxers Rohit Tokas and Ashish Chaudhary will also participate in their respective Round of 32 weight category events at 3:30 am the next day.
Finally, the Indian women’s hockey team is expected to play Ghana on the same day but the timings of which are not yet announced. But as per reports, the game will happen only after 6:30 pm.
Day 2
Nikhat Zareen will play her opening bout on Day 2 of the 2022 CWG
Day 2 of the Indian event will see Nitender Rawat appear in the Men’s Marathon Final at 11:30 pm. This will be followed by the Indian badminton team who will play Sri Lanka for Mixed Team Event Qualifying Round 2 around 1:30 pm and then play Australia for Mixed Team Event Qualifying Round 3 around 11:30 pm.
Indian pugilists Amit Panghal, Mohammad Hussamuddin, Sanjeet, Sagar, Nitu, Nikhat Zareen, Jasmine, and Lovlina Borgohain will all play in their respective Round of 32 bouts from 4:30 pm. These players along with the Day 1 boxers will also play Round of 16 bouts if they manage to win in the first round around 11 pm.
The Indian women’s hockey team will next be in action and will play Wales on Day 2 around 11:30 pm. We will also be able to see a glimpse of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics silver medallist Mirabai Chanu along with Sanket Mahadev and Chanambam Rishikanta Singh in 55kg weightlifting event women and men’s events from 1:30 pm.
Day 3
Indian women’s cricket team will play Pakistan on July 31st
Day 3 of the commonwealth games will see one of the much-anticipated cricket game of the competition as the Indian women’s cricket team play Pakistan at 3:30 pm. The Indian men’s hockey team will also play their first game of the competition when they take on Ghana at 6:30 pm.
Meanwhile, plenty of action is also certain in weightlifting with the men’s duo of Jeremy Lalrinnunga and Achinta Sheuli and women weightlifter Bindyarani Devi all set to play in their respective event finals from 2 pm IST.
Meanwhile, the Indian mixed badminton team will also play their quarter-final game from 3:30 pm, however, that is subject to the qualification of the team.