Across those 18 editions, Indian athletes have collected a cumulative total of 564 medals, 203 gold, 190 silver, and 171 bronze, placing the country 4th on the all-time Commonwealth Games medal table, behind Australia, England, and Canada. Shooting has historically been India’s most prolific discipline, contributing 135 of those 564 medals, while wrestling and weightlifting round out the top three sports.
India’s journey at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) is a story of extraordinary growth — from a single bronze medal on debut in 1934 to becoming one of the top four nations in the all-time medals standings. Competing under the banner of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF), India has taken part in 18 of the 22 editions held to date, having skipped only 1930, 1950, 1962, and 1986.
India hosted the Games in 2010 at New Delhi, its most successful outing ever, and is set to host again at Ahmedabad in 2030 for the centenary edition. The upcoming Games in Glasgow, Scotland (2026) will be a more compact affair with a reduced sports programme.
First Indian Commonwealth Games Medalist
India’s debut at the Games was modest; only six athletes competed across track & field and wrestling events. Rashid Anwar’s bronze in freestyle wrestling marked the beginning of a proud tradition that would take decades to fully blossom.
| Athlete | Rashid Anwar |
| Edition | 1934 British Empire Games, London, United Kingdom |
| Sport / Event | Wrestling (Men’s 74 kg Freestyle) |
| Medal | 🥉 Bronze |
| Significance | First-ever Commonwealth Games medal for India |
The first Indian gold at the CWG came 24 years later, when legendary sprinter Milkha Singh won the men’s 440-yard race at Cardiff 1958, with wrestler Lila Ram (100 kg Freestyle) adding a second gold in the same edition.
India’s Year-wise Commonwealth Games Medal Tally (1934–2022)
The table below tracks India’s performance edition by edition. Years where India did not participate (1930, 1950, 1962, 1986) are excluded. The 1938 and 1954 editions saw India participate but go home without a medal.
| Year | Host City / Country | 🥇 Gold | 🥈 Silver | 🥉 Bronze | Total | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1934 | London, UK | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12th |
| 1938 | Sydney, Australia | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1954 | Vancouver, Canada | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – |
| 1958 | Cardiff, Wales | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 8th |
| 1966 | Kingston, Jamaica | 3 | 4 | 3 | 10 | 8th |
| 1970 | Edinburgh, Scotland | 5 | 3 | 4 | 12 | 6th |
| 1974 | Christchurch, NZ | 4 | 8 | 3 | 15 | 6th |
| 1978 | Edmonton, Canada | 5 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 6th |
| 1982 | Brisbane, Australia | 5 | 8 | 3 | 16 | 6th |
| 1990 | Auckland, NZ | 13 | 8 | 11 | 32 | 5th |
| 1994 | Victoria, Canada | 6 | 11 | 7 | 24 | 6th |
| 1998 | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 7 | 10 | 8 | 25 | 7th |
| 2002 | Manchester, UK | 30 | 22 | 17 | 69 | 4th |
| 2006 | Melbourne, Australia | 22 | 17 | 11 | 50 | 4th |
| 2010 | New Delhi, India | 38 | 27 | 36 | 101 | 2nd |
| 2014 | Glasgow, Scotland | 15 | 30 | 19 | 64 | 5th |
| 2018 | Gold Coast, Australia | 26 | 20 | 20 | 66 | 3rd |
| 2022 | Birmingham, UK | 22 | 16 | 23 | 61 | 4th |
India’s Commonwealth Games Medals by Sport
India’s medal success has been built on a few key disciplines. The figures below reflect the cumulative totals across all 18 editions participated in through 2022. Approximate figures (~) are used where official sport-wise breakdowns have not been formally published by the Commonwealth Games Federation; confirmed totals are stated without the tilde.
| Sport | Rank | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shooting | 2 | 63 | 44 | 28 | 135 |
| Wrestling | 2 | 49 | 39 | 26 | 114 |
| Weightlifting | 2 | 46 | 51 | 36 | 133 |
| Boxing | 9 | 11 | 13 | 20 | 44 |
| Badminton | 3 | 10 | 8 | 13 | 31 |
| Table tennis | 2 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 28 |
| Athletics | 15 | 6 | 14 | 16 | 36 |
| Archery | 2 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 |
| Field hockey | 2 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
| Squash | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 5 |
| Tennis | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Lawn bowls | 11 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| Powerlifting | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Judo | 10 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 11 |
| Gymnastics | 11 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Cricket | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Swimming | 17 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Shooting is India’s most productive CWG discipline, with a remarkable 135 confirmed medals, including 63 golds and 44 silvers. This tally includes the 30 shooting medals earned at Delhi 2010 alone. Shooting was, however, dropped from the Birmingham 2022 and Glasgow 2026 programmes, significantly reducing India’s potential medal pool in those editions.
Wrestling produced another strong showing at Birmingham 2022, where all 12 Indian grapplers returned with medals. Weightlifting contributed 10 medals in 2022, and athletics yielded 8, the country’s best athletics haul in recent memory, with gold in triple jump (Eldhose Paul), long jump (Murali Sreeshankar), and steeplechase (Avinash Sable’s silver).
Top Indian Commonwealth Games Medalists
The athletes listed below have accumulated the most medals across CWG editions for India. Shooters dominate the upper echelon, reflecting the sport’s long-running dominance in India’s CWG campaign.
| Athlete | Sport | Total | 🥇 | 🥈 | 🥉 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jaspal Rana | Shooting (Pistol) | 15 | 9 | 4 | 2 |
| Samaresh Jung | Shooting | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 |
| Gagan Narang | Shooting (Rifle) | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 |
| Abhinav Bindra | Shooting (Rifle) | 7 | 4 | 1 | 2 |
| Vijay Kumar | Shooting (Pistol) | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Satheesha Rai | Weightlifting | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Achanta Sharath Kamal | Table Tennis | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| Saina Nehwal | Badminton | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Sushil Kumar | Wrestling | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| PV Sindhu | Badminton | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
Notable Indian Commonwealth Games Medalists’ Profiles
Jaspal Rana — India’s Most Decorated CWG Athlete
Jaspal Rana is the most successful Indian athlete in Commonwealth Games history, having won 15 medals (9 Gold, 4 Silver, 2 Bronze) in pistol shooting.
He dominated the discipline through the 1990s and into the 2000s, winning gold at multiple consecutive editions. Rana’s consistency across several CWG cycles remains unmatched among Indian athletes.
Sushil Kumar — The Wrestling Legend
Sushil Kumar is widely regarded as the greatest wrestler India has produced. At the Commonwealth Games, he claimed gold in the 66 kg freestyle category at the 2010 New Delhi Games, the edition India hosted, and repeated the feat at Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018, giving him three CWG gold medals in freestyle wrestling.
Kumar was also the final baton bearer in the Queen’s Baton Relay at the 2010 Delhi opening ceremony, a reflection of his stature in Indian sport at the time. His CWG career spanned five editions with a consistent medal presence in each.
Abhinav Bindra — India’s Olympic Gold Pioneer
Abhinav Bindra holds a unique place in Indian sporting history as the country’s first individual Olympic gold medallist (Beijing 2008, Men’s 10m Air Rifle).
His Commonwealth Games record is equally impressive: he won seven CWG medals in total, including a gold and silver in the 10m Air Rifle pairs and singles at the 2002 Manchester Games, and another gold alongside Gagan Narang in the 10m Air Rifle pairs at Delhi 2010 (scoring 1193 out of 1200). He added a fourth CWG gold in singles at Glasgow 2014. Bindra’s career spanned four CWG editions, and his influence in popularising shooting in India is immeasurable.
Saina Nehwal — Queen of Indian Badminton
Saina Nehwal is India’s most celebrated female badminton player and a trailblazer whose achievements have transformed the sport’s popularity in the country. At the Commonwealth Games, she won gold in the women’s singles at both Delhi 2010 (beating Malaysia’s Mew Choo Wong in the final to hand India its 38th gold of the edition) and Gold Coast 2018, making her the first Indian to win two singles gold medals at the CWG.
Nehwal also won bronze at Glasgow 2014, giving her three CWG medals in singles alone. A former world No. 1 and Olympic bronze medallist (London 2012), she is considered the player who opened doors for a generation of Indian badminton champions.
PV Sindhu — Badminton’s Back-to-Back Champion
PV Sindhu, a two-time Olympic medallist and the first Indian to become BWF World Champion (2019), won gold in the women’s singles at Birmingham 2022 and silver in the same event at Gold Coast 2018.
She served as India’s flag bearer (alongside hockey captain Manpreet Singh) at the Birmingham 2022 opening ceremony.
Mirabai Chanu — Weightlifting Icon
Saikhom Mirabai Chanu won India’s first gold of the Birmingham 2022 Games in the Women’s 49 kg weightlifting category.
She had earlier won gold in the Women’s 48 kg at Gold Coast 2018, making her a two-time CWG champion. Chanu is also an Olympic silver medallist (Tokyo 2020) and one of the most admired Indian athletes of the current generation.
Samaresh Jung — Delhi 2006 Athlete of the Games
Samaresh Jung from Andhra Pradesh won the title of Athlete of the Commonwealth Games at Melbourne 2006 after an extraordinary shooting performance in which he claimed five gold medals, one silver, and one bronze, seven medals in a single edition.
His haul at Melbourne remains one of the most dominant single-edition performances by any Indian athlete at the CWG.
Gagan Narang — Master Rifleman
Gagan Narang is India’s third-highest CWG medal winner with 10 medals, including 6 gold, from the shooting range.
His partnership with Abhinav Bindra in the 10m Air Rifle pairs at Delhi 2010, where the duo scored 1193 out of 1200, is one of the defining moments of India’s 2010 campaign.
India’s Best Commonwealth Games Performances
India has produced several memorable campaigns at the Commonwealth Games, marked by record medal tallies and historic performances. Among them, a few editions stand out as defining moments in the country’s sporting journey.
2010 Commonwealth Games — New Delhi, India
The 2010 New Delhi Commonwealth Games stand as India’s greatest-ever showing at the CWG. Competing as hosts, India finished 2nd overall on the medals table, behind only Australia, with 101 total medals: 38 gold, 27 silver, and 36 bronze. It was the first time India had crossed the 100-medal mark at any edition of the Games.
Highlights of the 2010 edition included:
- Shooters contributed 30 medals, including 14 gold.
- Wrestlers delivered 19 medals, including 10 gold.
- India winning gold in the discus throw (women) through Krishna Poonia, the country’s first athletics gold at the CWG in 52 years, since Milkha Singh’s 440-yard triumph in 1958.
- First-ever CWG gymnastics medal for India, Ashish Kumar won silver and bronze.
- Saina Nehwal clinched India’s 38th gold of the edition in women’s badminton singles.
- Sushil Kumar won gold in the 66 kg freestyle wrestling event.
- Gagan Narang and Abhinav Bindra won gold in the 10m Air Rifle pairs.
The home advantage, combined with a comprehensive shooting programme and dominant performances in the mat sports, made 2010 an edition unlikely to be replicated for many years.
2022 Commonwealth Games — Birmingham, United Kingdom
The Birmingham 2022 Games were India’s most challenging in decades in one respect: shooting, India’s biggest medal-producing sport, was absent from the programme. Despite this, India finished 4th overall with 61 medals: 22 gold, 16 silver, and 23 bronze.
Standout performances at Birmingham 2022 included:
- All 12 Indian wrestlers returned with medals, a perfect 100% podium rate in the sport.
- Jeremy Lalrinnunga won gold in Men’s 67 kg Weightlifting with a then-Games record.
- Mirabai Chanu won gold in Women’s 49 kg Weightlifting.
- PV Sindhu winning gold in Women’s Badminton Singles.
- Lakshya Sen won gold in Men’s Badminton Singles.
- Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty won gold in Men’s Badminton Doubles.
- Eldhose Paul won gold in Men’s Triple Jump — a first for India in this event.
- India’s women’s lawn bowls team won its first-ever gold in the discipline.
- Sudhir won India’s first-ever para powerlifting gold at the CWG.
- Nikhat Zareen, Nitu Ghanghas, and Amit Panghal won gold in their respective boxing categories.
- Avinash Sable won silver in the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase, setting a national record.
India’s 4th-place finish at Birmingham 2022, without shooting, demonstrated the remarkable depth of talent the country had developed across a range of disciplines. The result is considered one of India’s most competitive CWG campaigns, given the reduced opportunity set.
2018 Commonwealth Games — Gold Coast, Australia
At Gold Coast 2018, India finished 3rd overall with 66 medals (26 gold, 20 silver, 20 bronze). The edition saw India excel in shooting (16 medals, including 7 gold), weightlifting, wrestling, and badminton.
Table tennis star Manika Batra emerged as the standout performer, winning four medals (2 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze), including gold in women’s singles, a historic first for India in that event.
India’s All-Time Position in the Commonwealth Games Medal Table
| Rank | Country | 🥇 Gold | 🥈 Silver | 🥉 Bronze |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 948 | 802 | 692 |
| 2 | England | 784 | 749 | 672 |
| 3 | Canada | 498 | 454 | 474 |
| 4 | India | 203 | 190 | 171 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 148 | 180 | 215 |
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Conclusion: India Has Won Total Of 564 Medals Till Date In Commonwealth Games
India’s Commonwealth Games story is one of steady, remarkable ascent from a lone bronze in 1934 to 564 medals across 18 editions, ranking 4th in all-time history. The 2010 Delhi Games remain the pinnacle, while Birmingham 2022 proved India’s resilience without its strongest sport.
As India prepares to host the centenary Games in Ahmedabad in 2030, a new golden era beckons, poised to build upon the legacy of Milkha Singh, Jaspal Rana, Sushil Kumar, Abhinav Bindra, Saina Nehwal, and a generation of champions.
FAQs
India has won a total of 564 medals in the Commonwealth Games, consisting of 203 gold, 190 silver, and 171 bronze medals. With this achievement, India ranks 4th in the all-time Commonwealth Games medal table. The country’s first Commonwealth Games medal was won by Rashid Anwar, who earned a bronze medal in wrestling at the 1934 British Empire Games.
The first Indian to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games was Rashid Anwar. He won a bronze medal in wrestling at the 1934 British Empire Games, when the event was still known as the British Empire Games.
India won 101 medals at the 2010 Commonwealth Games, including 38 gold medals. This strong performance helped India finish second in the overall medal standings, behind Australia. The Games were held in New Delhi from 3 to 14 October 2010.
Prakash Padukone was the first Indian badminton player to win a Commonwealth Games gold medal. He remained the only Indian male badminton player to achieve this until Parupalli Kashyap also won gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The 2030 Commonwealth Games are planned to be hosted in Ahmedabad. The event will mark the 100th anniversary of the Commonwealth Games, and preparations include expanded sports programs and major infrastructure development in the city.
