Commonwealth Games, 2022

[arjun2761]

Neetu in women's 48kg boxing weight class was the find of the Games to me; however since her weight class is not an Olympic event, so not sure if she can be a medal hopeful if she moves up. The problem is that Nikhat Zareen, who is our best boxer, is already in that weight class, so maybe both boxers should move up.
Sreeja was also impressive, but overall it was our older generation (Achanta, Chanu, Dahiya/Bajrang/Sakshi/Deepak/Vinesh, Phangal) that brought the bulk of the Golds. The most promising youngsters in these games were Lakshya, Satwik/Chirag and Eldhose Paul and we can expect good things from them in the future as well.

While Sreeja may have been impressive, CWG TT isn't really all that strong relative to say the Asian Games. Not sure that she is (or anyone else in TT) an Olympic or even Asiad medal prospect. Our top woman is #44, our top man #37, so hardly medal threats at the top level.

[Orang]

He is currently world #9, so your prediction has happened well before you made it.

Makes sense, though sooner than I would expect! Which site do you check for live?

This one has Yong at world rank 42 as of August 2:

https://bwfworldtour.bwfbadminton.com/r ... &page_no=1

[arjun2761]

My bad I mistook your prediction to say that Sen will be top 10 one day, which he already is. Not sure about the potential of the guy he beat but based on his results against the top Indians (and Loh), he should be moving up unless he is one of strange patriotic players (like LP or Sharath Kamal) who plays really well for country but dont do as well on the regular tour.

[Sin Hombre]

We had Tokyo Olympics just last year so hard to have a new "find" of the tournament.

Reviewing it and starting from the Tokyo medalists,
Neeraj - DNP but won a silver at WC two weeks back so clearly still a medal favourite if the Olympics happened today
Mirabai - won gold here with about the same weight lifted. Clearly still a medal favourite if the Olympics happened today
Ravi Kumar - won gold here. Still a strong medal contender if the Olympics happened today
Bajrang - won gold here. Still a strong medal contender if the Olympics happened today
PV Sindhu - won gold here. She continues to deliver in big tournaments. I do think she will start fading in 2 years but a strong medal contender if the Olympics happened today
Lovlina - flopped. Will need a very good draw to win a medal if the Olympics happened today
Men's hockey - won silver. Got destroyed in the finals but still clearly look like a top-5 team and a medal contender

Others
Nikhat Zareen - not a find but clearly establishing herself as a strong medal contender if the Olympics happened today. Got cheated out of a spot for Tokyo
Vinesh - prodigal child now veteran defended her CWG crown easily. 53kg is a tough class for women's wrestlers and she will be a contender but not a strong one if the Olympics happened today.
Deepak - he was very close to a medal in Tokyo. Still a medal contender
Amit - won easily but no big names in the field. Still a medal contender
Nitu Ghanghas - won easily but non-Olympic weight. If Nikhat stays at 50, she has to go from 48 to 54kg. Would be annoying to have a repeat of the Mary Kom / Nikhat situation going into Paris
Avinash Sable - first performance in big tournament, where he now has proven that he can medal at the Olympics or WC level with some luck
Lakshya , Satwik/Chirag - will have to be very lucky to medal today

[srini]

I believe the health benefits of any sport should far outweigh the risk of life threatening injuries from it. Then only such sport is deserving to be showcased in any major sporting event. Boxing is one event where most boxers sustain a traumatic head injury at some point of their career. Cycling in its current form is another high risk sport.
I would ideally love boxing if it can incorporate
safety equipment which can make the benefits of workouts from boxing outweigh the risks/danger from the sport. The reason given for removing headgear in olympics for male boxers was that boxers are more likely to sustain concussions because head guards make it harder to see and dodge punches. If that’s the case I would say go back to drawing board and design a better safety gear and test it. Also in the process if you can eliminate the existing ridiculous scoring system of judges by using an automated scoring system even better. Just because the judges are biased, allowing athletes to punch until one gets knocked out to know the right result is outright atrocious in my opinion..knockout happens only when head spins not when one jabs at body. So everyone knows what to target for and actually i’m all for removing knockouts to be used for determining the boxing results altogether, one may say then it may look like a different sport altogether… so be it, a sport where the benefits of workouts will far outweigh the dangers. Drop boxing from all major events until they can comeup with the right safety procedures proven to be working. We don’t miss it as anyway the judges scoring is laughable and everyone knows nations lobby outcomes of bouts before players go into ring.

[pancakesdonuts]

My bad I mistook your prediction to say that Sen will be top 10 one day, which he already is. Not sure about the potential of the guy he beat but based on his results against the top Indians (and Loh), he should be moving up unless he is one of strange patriotic players (like LP or Sharath Kamal) who plays really well for country but dont do as well on the regular tour.

he already has won 1 big event (India open) this year and 2 runners-up in all england and german open. This dude is the future of India in badminton. He already won bronze in wc and gold in thomas cup team event. Even Sindhu/Saina didn't achieve at his age. Currently, he is ranked 10th bcoz of rankings are freezed by BWF due to covid. The rankings are getting unfreeze systematically right now. He will reach #3/4 position by the end of the year if he continues his form and rankings would be unfreezed by that time.

[Orang]

Not sure about the potential of the guy he beat but based on his results against the top Indians (and Loh), he should be moving up unless he is one of strange patriotic players (like LP or Sharath Kamal) who plays really well for country but dont do as well on the regular tour.

Just checked, and Ng is age 22 and Sen is age 20. I think both will make the World Top 5 before the end of next year.

In table tennis, our gap versus the Chinese and other Asian nations always seemed too much and Sharath was probably never a consistent world top 25 caliber player. He gets away with it in the CWG of course.

In contrast, in badminton we have already proven ourselves many times, including having World number 1 male and female players and Olympic medalists. Plus the Uber Cup this year.

I felt sorry for 29 year old Kidambi. His age was clearly showing in his two third set losses versus the younger Ng. Deep down, he must know that his time at the top is very close to ending? A truly memorable career and achievement on his part in reaching World number 1 in 2018.

[jayakris]

He already has won 1 big event (India open) this year and 2 runners-up in all england and german open. This dude is the future of India in badminton. He already won bronze in wc and gold in thomas cup team event. Even Sindhu/Saina didn't achieve at his age. Currently, he is ranked 10th bcoz of rankings are freezed by BWF due to covid. The rankings are getting unfreeze systematically right now. He will reach #3/4 position if he continues his form and rankings would be unfreezed by that time.

Glad you say that. I am no badminton expert and do not get to see matches much in the US like many who are in India, but just watching the progression, Lakshya has looked like the real thing who might go up to the top and be a solid medal contendor at Olympics too.

By the way, I was surprised when a colleague of mine, a Chinese professor in my university who is an avid badminton player and a good follower of the game, went on and on about how good Lakshya Sen is. He says the Chinese badminton forums he reads are highly impressed by Lakshya and see him as the next big thing in the world. He was also complaining that the Chinese federation has messed things up with too much of planning and strategizing that has only stunted many players' growth and all that too....

[suresh]

Sorry for a long post/rant.

Thanks Sufyan.

[prasen9]

I believe the health benefits of any sport should far outweigh the risk of life threatening injuries from it. Then only such sport is deserving to be showcased in any major sporting event. Boxing is one event where most boxers sustain a traumatic head injury at some point of their career. Cycling in its current form is another high risk sport.
I would ideally love boxing if it can incorporate
safety equipment which can make the benefits of workouts from boxing outweigh the risks/danger from the sport. The reason given for removing headgear in olympics for male boxers was that boxers are more likely to sustain concussions because head guards make it harder to see and dodge punches. If that’s the case I would say go back to drawing board and design a better safety gear and test it. Also in the process if you can eliminate the existing ridiculous scoring system of judges by using an automated scoring system even better. Just because the judges are biased, allowing athletes to punch until one gets knocked out to know the right result is outright atrocious in my opinion..knockout happens only when head spins not when one jabs at body. So everyone knows what to target for and actually i’m all for removing knockouts to be used for determining the boxing results altogether, one may say then it may look like a different sport altogether… so be it, a sport where the benefits of workouts will far outweigh the dangers. Drop boxing from all major events until they can comeup with the right safety procedures proven to be working. We don’t miss it as anyway the judges scoring is laughable and everyone knows nations lobby outcomes of bouts before players go into ring.

The other reason to drop boxing is because it is a weird sport where you realistically cannot have the best players play. Because they will literally kill the other players. If you put a top professional boxer and an amateur from Nepal, the Nepali will die. That is why professional boxers are banned. So, what really are we having boxing in the Olympics for. To have some sort of amateur players and find who is the best. Well, we have all sorts of weird sports, so this is fine but then you combine with the health issues and I am not so sure we can really have a case for boxing at the olympics.

[Atithee]

Boxing is not a sport; period. One could argue whether shooting and archery are worthy of being called a sport either.

[sameerph]

He already has won 1 big event (India open) this year and 2 runners-up in all england and german open. This dude is the future of India in badminton. He already won bronze in wc and gold in thomas cup team event. Even Sindhu/Saina didn't achieve at his age. Currently, he is ranked 10th bcoz of rankings are freezed by BWF due to covid. The rankings are getting unfreeze systematically right now. He will reach #3/4 position if he continues his form and rankings would be unfreezed by that time.

Glad you say that. I am no badminton expert and do not get to see matches much in the US like many who are in India, but just watching the progression, Lakshya has looked like the real thing who might go up to the top and be a solid medal contendor at Olympics too.

Lakshya will be turning 21 in one weeks time and he is by far the youngest in top 10 rankings. In fact the next youngest player in top 10 Malaysian Lee Zee Jia is more than 3 years older than Lakshya. There is only 1 player who is below 24 year of age in top 25 apart from Laskhya is his junior rival Kunlavut from Thailand. So, Lakshya is clearly a special talent rising so high at this age.

If the olympics are held today, I think Lakshya will only be an outside contender for medal. However, I hope we see further improvement in his game in next 2 years he will become one of the medal favorites at Paris, also some of those ranked above him will be 2 years older. For example, current olympic champion Dane Axelsen who is dominating the circuit this year too will have turned 30, an age where generally peak of most of the badminton player goes down. So, high hope from Laskshya for 2024.

[srini]

Boxing is not a sport; period. One could argue whether shooting and archery are worthy of being called a sport either.

Right...let's move all these games (add wrestling too) to "World Military Games" and be done with it...never mind if the nation of 1 billion loses the only few medals it gets in these games in the summer Olympics.

[Orang]

Medals by state. I try hard to avoid state-by-state comparisons, but had to praise the Haryana/Punjab/Delhi region this time.

Some of these athletes are probably born in other states to those they now reside in and represent.

https://thebridge.in/commonwealth-games ... yana-34371

[Atithee]

If it’s available, please tabulate how many are Army employees or working at other government enterprises.