TALKING POINTS

India returned with their third-highest Commonwealth Games medals tally of 66. Here is a look at some of the highs and lows over the last fortnight Down Under

HITS

MANIKA BATRA

Manika exceeded expectations to lead India to gold in the team championships and singles, beating higher-rated players from Singapore. She used superb tactics to outwit rivals and because of her performance, India made a dent in the table tennis order at CWG. It remains to be seen if she can translate the success on the ITTF Tour and world stage.

K SRIKANTH

Midway through the competition, Srikanth became world No 1, only the second Indian male badminton player after Prakash Padukone to pull it off. But more important for him would be the win against Lee Chong Wei in the team competition. He had the former world No 1 and three-time Olympic medallist in a spot of bother in the singles final too but could not close out the match.

MARY KOM

Mary Kom had an easy path to gold in the 45-48 kg class as there were only eight competitors and all fairly inexperienced. But then she was contesting against herself, hoping to prove that at 35, she had the drive and desire to win medals. A CWG medal was the only one missing from her trophy cabinet. That anomaly has been set right. YOUNG SHOOTERS They are under 20 and have caught the eye with their confident performance on the world stage. Manu Bhaker (left), Anish Bhanwala (right) and Mehuli Ghosh had won medals at the ISSF World Cup in Mexico and continued the streak in Gold Coast. Manu and Anish won gold while Mehuli got silver. What caught the eye was their unshakeable confidence, with Anish and Mehuli coming up with their best shots in high-pressure situations.

ACHANTA SHARATH KAMAL

He is the odd one out in Indian table tennis as youngsters try to take over the mantle. But Sharath, the 2006 champion, proved he still has a lot left in him. He led India to the men’s team championship, claimed silver in doubles and bronze in singles. His three medals made him the most successful male player for India.

SAINA NEHWAL

There were question marks over her return from injury and form. That a younger player like PV Sindhu had overtaken her in ranking further fuelled the discussion. Saina answered her critics as she helped India win the mixed team championship for the first time and also bagged the singles crown. Her duel with Sindhu in the women’s final kept the crowd enthralled.

THE WEIGHTLIFTERS

Mirabai Chanu (in pic) started India’s gold rush by winning in women’s 48kg. The floodgates opened as India bagged five gold, two silver and two bronze to become the most successful nation at Gold Coast. Sanjita Chanu, Punam Yadav, Sathish Shivalingam and Ragala

Venkat Rahul won gold while

Deepak Lather and Gururaja impressed with their performances. MISSES ATHLETES SENT BACK FOR BREAKING RULES Rakesh Babu and KT Irfan had their accreditation suspended and were sent home for breaching the ‘no-needle’ policy after syringes were recovered from Babu’s bag and their room. The IOA says it had passed on information to athletes via national federations but the fact they were caught proves there is a lot more than what meets the eye. The IOA and AFI have announced further action and one hopes they make an example of the two so that such incidents don’t occur again.

IOA MESSES IT UP

It mishandled the accreditation issue of Saina Nehwal’s father and the physiotherapist of the weightlifting team, forcing some lifters to compete despite injury concerns. IOA officials blame federations for this and it needs to be strict with national sports federations (NSFS) to discourage the policy of bringing freeloaders at the expense of support staff.

IOA AT IT AGAIN

The IOA’S handling of the breach of ‘no-needle’ policy was laughable. In the first instance, the attempt to pass off the discovery of needles near the accommodation as an act of “Good Samaritan” was ridiculous. In the second case too, the IOA’S explanations were not convincing and the chef-de-mission and officials were lucky to get off with a reprimand.

SAINA THREATENS TO PULL OUT

She threatened a boycott if her father was not given accommodation in the Athletes Village. Agreed she had paid the IOA, but why get into such a situation. Her father had been with her in similar events and not stayed at the Games Village. Saina could have set an example by making separate arrangements for her father.

BREACH OF RULES

Dr Amol Patil, the doctor with the boxing team was reprimanded for not failing to dispose of used needles as per the ‘no-needle’ policy. The CGF reprimanded him and the chief medical officer of the Indian contingent. The IOA needs to be careful about such selections and maybe conduct a pre-departure camp for newcomers too.

HOCKEY TEAMS FALL APART

The men’s team had bagged silver in the last two editions, but failed to win a medal at Gold Coast. They managed just one good performance, against England. The women’s team improved on its fifth place and finished fourth but that was small consolation. Though they beat England, they could not repeat the performance in the bronze medal match.

YOHAN BLAKE

He was supposed to win 100m and take over the mantle from Usain Bolt. But Blake finished behind two unknown South Africans in 10.19s, a poor time by his standards. As Blake admitted, he underestimated the competition. Though there are a lot of races left in the season, he needs to get his form back and start winning the big ones as time is running out for him.