The absence of the injured Neeraj Chopra from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games is definitely a dampener for the Indian contingent, but Somdev Dev Varman believes the country has the potential to surpass the 66- medal tally earned at the 2018 Gold Coast CWG. Somdev, the former India No. 1 who won the men’s singles gold in tennis at the New Delhi CWG in 2010, feels that India’s chances in racquet sports are very high in the July 28 to August 8 Games.
“Indians have shown consistent performance in racquet sports over the years, and we hope to see this momentum grow. “In badminton there is no question that PV Sindhu is a medal prospect. She already has a silver (Gold Coast, 2018) and bronze (Glasgow, 2014) in women’s singles and will surely eye a gold this time around to add to the gold she already has in mixed team event,” Somdev said during a virtual interaction on Wednesday.
“In table tennis we have Manika Batra and Achanta Sharath Kamal. Manika won four medals at Gold Coast, including a gold in women’s singles. “In squash we have Dipika Pallikal, along with Joshna Chinappa and Saurav Ghosal. Dipika has a gold and two silver CWG medals, while Chinappa has one gold and one silver. Ghosal, too, has a silver in his kitty.”
The 2022 CWG will be telecast from Thursday on Sony SIX and Sony TEN 1, 2, 3, 4 channels.
