India’s Commonwealth Games Legacy: 602 medals, 4th in all-time standings, weightlifting most successful sport

India's most successful edition remains the 2010 Delhi Games, where the country recorded its best-ever performance with 101 medals (38 gold, 27 silver, 36 bronze) and finished second behind Australia.

4 min readUpdated: Aug 3, 2026 03:13 PM IST

India rank fourth in all-time medal tally of Commonwealth Games. (AP)

Sunday saw the conclusion of a truncated Commonwealth Games 2026 in Glasgow, where India finished with a creditable haul of 39 medals, including 13 gold, 17 silver, and nine bronze. The achievement was notable given the reduced programme, which excluded wrestling, shooting, badminton, hockey, and table tennis, sports that have historically contributed significantly to India’s medal tally.

In this edition, boxing stood out as India’s strongest discipline, delivering 10 medals, including seven gold, which was the highest tally by any nation in boxing at a single Commonwealth Games. Athletics contributed 16 medals, while weightlifting added eight to the overall count.

Australia topped the table with 171 medals (70 gold), followed by England with 110 and Canada with 62. India edged hosts Scotland into fourth place by virtue of a higher silver count. This continued India’s consistent run inside the top five, a position they have held in every edition since 2002.

Overall, India’s all-time Commonwealth Games medal tally now stands at 602 medals (215 gold, 207 silver, 180 bronze), placing them fourth in the all-time rankings behind Australia, England, and Canada.

Commonwealth Games Overall Historic Medal Tally

Rank	Countries	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Australia	1,073	879	823	2,775
2	England	802	828	802	2,432
3	Canada	529	568	612	1,709
4	India	215	207	180	602
5	New Zealand	189	246	307	742
6	Scotland	145	152	244	541
7	South Africa	144	143	157	444
8	Kenya	94	84	92	270
9	Nigeria	92	91	112	295
10	Wales	84	114	167	365
11	Jamaica	75	57	63	195
12	Malaysia	74	76	94	244
13	Northern Ireland	40	50	68	158
14	Singapore	40	33	36	109
15	Pakistan	27	27	29	83
16	Cyprus	26	21	29	76
17	Uganda	19	18	26	63
18	Ghana	15	21	29	65
19	Trinidad and Tobago	13	26	30	69
20	Bahamas	12	14	14	40
21	Cameroon	12	13	20	45
22	Nauru	10	11	12	33
23	Samoa	7	13	11	31
24	Zimbabwe	6	9	14	29
25	Tanzania	6	7	11	24
26	Zambia	5	13	26	44
27	Sri Lanka	5	10	11	26
28	Papua New Guinea	5	8	3	16
29	Fiji	5	7	13	25
30	Botswana	5	6	8	19
31	Namibia	5	5	17	27
32	Hong Kong	5	2	10	17
33	Guyana	4	6	6	16
34	Isle of Man	4	3	7	14
35	Grenada	4	2	2	8
36	Barbados	3	5	8	16
37	Bermuda	3	2	4	9
38	British Virgin Islands	3	0	0	3
39	Mauritius	2	11	9	22
40	Mozambique	2	4	3	9
41	Bangladesh	2	4	2	8
42	Jersey	2	1	3	6
43	Saint Vincent & the Grenadines	2	0	1	3
44	Guernsey	1	5	3	9
45	Dominica	1	2	1	4
46	Lesotho	1	1	3	5
46	Saint Lucia	1	1	3	5
48	Cayman Islands	1	0	1	2
49	Kiribati	1	0	0	1
49	Saint Kitts and Nevis	1	0	0	1
51	Seychelles	0	3	4	7
52	Rhodesia and Nyasaland	0	2	5	7
53	Malta	0	1	7	8
54	Swaziland	0	1	3	4
55	The Gambia	0	1	2	3
56	Ireland	0	1	0	1
57	Tonga	0	0	4	4
58	Malawi	0	0	3	3
	Norfolk Island	0	0	3	3
	Vanuatu	0	0	3	3
61	Cook Islands	0	0	1	1
	Gabon	0	0	1	1
	Niue	0	0	1	1
	Rwanda	0	0	1	1
	Solomon Islands	0	0	1	1
	Tuvalu	0	0	1	1
Total		3,823	3,815	4,166	11,804

Australia lead the all-time Commonwealth Games medal tally with a staggering 2,775 medals, including 1,073 gold medals. England are second with 2,432 medals (802 gold), followed by Canada in third with 1,709 medals (529 gold medals).

India’s performance at Commonwealth Games over the editions

Year	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total	Position
1930 Hamilton	Did not participate
1934 London	0	0	1	1	12th
1938 Sydney	0	0	0	0	–
1950 Auckland	Did not participate
1954 Vancouver	0	0	0	0	–
1958 Cardiff	2	1	0	3	8th
1962 Perth	Did not participate
1966 Kingston	3	4	3	10	8th
1970 Edinburgh	5	3	4	12	6th
1974 Christchurch	4	8	3	15	6th
1978 Edmonton	5	5	5	15	6th
1982 Brisbane	5	8	3	16	6th
1986 Edinburgh	Did not participate
1990 Auckland	13	8	11	32	5th
1994 Victoria	6	11	7	24	6th
1998 Kuala Lumpur	7	10	8	25	7th
2002 Manchester	30	22	17	69	4th
2006 Melbourne	22	17	11	50	4th
2010 New Delhi	38	27	36	101	2nd
2014 Glasgow	15	30	19	64	5th
2018 Gold Coast	26	20	20	66	3rd
2022 Birmingham	21	16	23	60	4th
2026 Glasgow	13	17	9	39	4th
Total	215	207	180	602	4th

India’s most successful edition remains the 2010 Delhi Games, where the country recorded its best-ever performance with 101 medals (38 gold, 27 silver, 36 bronze) and finished second behind Australia. This remains their only top-two finish in Games history. The turnaround since the 1958 Cardiff Games, where India won its first-ever gold medals, including Milkha Singh’s iconic 440-yard victory, has been remarkable.

Medals won by India at Commonwealth Games in different sports

Sport	Rank	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Shooting	2	63	44	28	135
Wrestling	2	49	39	26	114
Weightlifting	2	47	57	37	141
Boxing	6	18	16	20	54
Badminton	3	10	8	13	31
Athletics	13	9	21	22	52
Table tennis	2	10	5	13	28
Archery	2	3	1	4	8
Judo	5	2	6	7	15
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
Para powerlifting	6	0	0	2	2
Gymnastics	12	0	1	2	3
Cricket	3	0	1	0	1
Swimming	17	0	0	1	1
Total	215	207	180	602	4th

Weightlifting, wrestling, and shooting have been India’s biggest medal contributors across Games history. Weightlifting leads the chart with 141 medals (47 gold, 57 silver, 37 bronze), followed by shooting with 135 medals (63 gold, 44 silver, 28 bronze) and wrestling with 114 medals (49 gold, 39 silver, 26 bronze). These three sports alone account for 390 of India’s total 602 medals, more than 60 per cent of the country’s overall haul.

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Boxing has contributed 54 medals (18 gold, 16 silver, 20 bronze), while athletics has delivered 52 medals (nine gold, 21 silver, 22 bronze). Badminton and table tennis have also been productive, with 31 and 28 medals respectively. India have also won medals in judo, archery, hockey, squash, tennis, lawn bowls, gymnastics, cricket, swimming, and para powerlifting.

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