Indian Women Shine at CWG 2018!

Mary Kom once said “Never buy gold, simply earn it”

She lived up to her words, when she won her first Commonwealth gold at the recently concluded the Commonwealth Games, which was held in the Gold Coast. She was not the only sportsperson to make a mark at the 21st edition of the Games- India ended the games with a total medal tally of 66 medals, of which 26 were Gold, and 20 were silver and bronze each.

It is important to note that Indian sportswomen have really outshined themselves, and set many new records. In Athletics, Seema Punia and Navjeet Dhillon won silver and bronze. In Badminton, Saina Nehwal won Gold, PV Sindhu won Silver, and the team of Ashwini Ponnappa & Sikki Reddy won a Bronze at Women’s Doubles. In Shooting, Manu Bhaker won Gold, and became the 2nd youngest Indian ever to win a medal at CWG. In Shooting, Shreyasi Singh, Tejaswini Sawant and Heena Sidhu won Gold; Mehuli Ghosh and Anjum Moudgil won Silver; Apurva Chandela won Bronze. Tejaswini Sawant and Heena Sidhu also won Silver medals. Dipika Pallikal and Joshna Chinappa won silver medals in Squash, whereas in Table Tennis Manika Batra won India’s first ever singles Gold, along with partnering with Mouma Das to win a silver in the women’s doubles event. She also won the mixed doubles bronze, partnering with Sathiyan G. In weightlifting, Mirabai Chanu and Sanjita Chanu won gold; whereas in wrestling Vinesh Phogat (Gold), Babita Phogat & Pooja Dhanda (Silver), and Sakshi Malik, Divya Kakran, & Kiran (Bronze) won numerous accolades.

At Centre for Social Research, our pride and happiness at the victory of these sportswomen is unparalleled. As we are currently partnering with Australian Aid, for our “Sports for Girls” program in Haryana, which aims to empower women of the state through various district level sporting events and workshops, we understand the ground level realities that plague the rise of sportspersons in our country, and those hindering the careers of sportswomen in particular. We salute the spirit of these women who have not succumbed to the various pressures that society and culture places on them, and who have overcome various infrastructural and administrative deficits to achieve this success. We hope to see many more sportswomen in the forefront in the coming years!