The Commonwealth Games 2022 that is set to begin on July 28 in Birmingham will be attended by a 215-member Indian squad, comprising 108 male and 107 female athletes.
While many athletes are already training abroad and will directly join the Indian team in Birmingham, the remaining athletes were given a warm send-off in an official event. The overall contingent strength of the contingent is 322 including 215 athletes, 72 team officials, 26 extra officials and 9 contingent staff. Discipline-wise, the biggest contingent is of Athletics and Hockey with 36 athletes each. India will also take part in Women’s Cricket, which is making its Commonwealth Games (CWG) debut.
The Vice-President of Boxing Federation of India, Rajesh Bhandari, has been named as Chef-de-Mission after Onkar Singh, the Chairman of Cycling Federation of India pulled out. Bhandari is also the Secretary of Himachal Pradesh Olympic Association. Maninder Singh, Onkar Singh’s son, has been added to the contingent as the third general manager. The other two general managers are Prashant Kushwaha and Anil Dhupar.
The Secretary General of Indian Olympic Association, Rajeev Mehta, announced that the gold medallist will be awarded Rs 20 lakh. Rs 10 lakh will go to silver medallists and the bronze medallists will get Rs 7.5 lakh. The send- off ceremony was attended by Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, who also reviewed India’s preparations for CWG in a Mission Olympic Cell meeting.
