India's excellent show at Commonwealth Games

India, especially Kerala, has a lot to be proud of as the curtain falls on the 22nd Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Entire Kerala can be proud of the fact that Kerala's Eldhose Paul and Abdulla Aboobacker won gold and silver respectively in the triple jump the other day. It is the first time in history that a Malayali player has won gold in the Commonwealth Games athletics in an individual event. This is the first time that Malayali athletes have finished first and second in the same event.

25-year-old Eldhose Paul, a resident of Kolanchery in Ernakulam, clinched the gold medal in the triple jump with a jump of 17.03 meters. Although everyone expected him to win a medal, the gold medal was beyond dreams. Indian fans went gaga when Eldhose cleared 17.03 meters in his third attempt. The excitement doubled when Abdulla jumped 17.02 meters in his fifth attempt and came second to Eldhose. The Alexander Stadium would have witnessed another historic moment if Praveen Chitravel, another Indian player in the event, had not missed third place by a mere three centimetres.

Eldhose and Abdulla won gold and silver on August 7, 2021, the anniversary of Neeraj Chopra winning the gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics. What we saw in Birmingham was a continuation of the medal hunt started by Neeraj in Tokyo. On the day the country celebrated Neeraj's medal anniversary as Javelin Day, India's Annu Rani became the first Indian woman to win a bronze in the women's javelin throw at the Commonwealth Games.

This time there was a Malayali touch in six medals. Badminton player Treesa Jolly won two of them. Kannur native Treesa, who first won the silver in the mixed team event, later won bronze in women's doubles. The silver medal won by Sreeshankar in the long jump also shines bright. Sreeshankar, who passed the qualifying round with a single jump, was in fifth place after completing the first four attempts in the final. However, he jumped to the second position with a jump of 8.08 meters in the fifth attempt. Deepika Pallikal, who won bronze along with Sourav Ghoshal in squash mixed doubles, is another Malayalee star on the medal list.

The three medals won by Malayali stars give a new life to Kerala's athletics scene. Eldhose, Abdulla and Sreeshankar are descendants of Olympians Suresh Babu, TC Yohannan, Ranjith Maheshwari, Anju Bobby George, MA Prajusha and Neena Pinto who had made us proud in the international jumping pits. It is a fact that in recent years Kerala has lost its former prominence in athletics from the junior level. Hopefully, these medals will inspire young athletes to bounce back from those setbacks.

Shooting, for which India had won several medals in previous Commonwealth Games, was not a competitive event in Birmingham. Although this is reflected in the number of total medals, good performance in events like weightlifting, athletics, boxing, wrestling and badminton is a source of pride. Congratulations to all who have made the nation proud at the Commonwealth Games.