Why India’s Commonwealth Games Success Deserves Celebration, Not Cynicism

Trisha Ghosal, Glasgow

The Commonwealth Games seem to invite a familiar debate every four years. This time has been no different.

As India concluded another successful campaign in Glasgow, social media was flooded with comments dismissing the achievement. The argument was predictable: “China isn’t there. The United States isn’t there. Many of the world’s strongest sporting nations don’t participate. So why celebrate?”

It is a convenient argument. It is also an unfair one.

No athlete decides who is eligible to compete at the Commonwealth Games. Indian athletes simply entered the arena, competed under the same rules as everyone else and defeated those standing opposite them. That is how every sporting competition works.

Nobody questions the legitimacy of the Copa America because European football teams are absent. Nobody dismisses the UEFA European Championship because Argentina or Brazil are not involved. Wimbledon does not become less prestigious because it features only tennis players and not athletes from every sport. Every competition has its own field, qualification criteria and history.

The Commonwealth Games are no different.

In fact, the 2026 edition was arguably even more challenging for several Indian athletes. The programme was reduced to just 10 sports, with traditional Indian medal-rich disciplines such as badminton, wrestling, hockey, table tennis and cricket removed. That meant India had fewer opportunities to win medals than at previous editions. Yet Indian athletes still found ways to stand on the podium through boxing, athletics, para sports, weightlifting, judo and other disciplines.

More importantly, medals are never just numbers.

Behind every gold, silver or bronze lies years of unseen effort. Early mornings. Injuries. Financial struggles. Families making sacrifices. Athletes missing weddings, festivals and birthdays. Coaches dedicating decades to nurturing talent. Support staff working tirelessly behind the scenes. Those stories do not disappear because someone on social media decides the competition was “easy”.

If winning medals were truly easy, every participating nation would return home with dozens. Sport has never worked that way.

There is another contradiction that deserves attention.

When Indian athletes fall short, criticism comes swiftly. Questions are asked. Performances are dissected. Expectations are raised. That scrutiny is part of elite sport. But if failure deserves scrutiny, success surely deserves celebration.

Celebrating a Commonwealth Games medal does not mean claiming it is equivalent to an Olympic medal. Indian athletes themselves understand the difference between competitions better than anyone else. The Olympic Games remain the pinnacle. World Championships remain the ultimate benchmark in many sports. Acknowledging that reality does not diminish the significance of a Commonwealth Games medal.

Both ideas can coexist.

The Commonwealth Games also remain an important international platform. For young athletes, they provide invaluable experience of handling pressure, representing India in a multi-sport environment and competing before international audiences. For para athletes, the Games have become an increasingly significant stage to showcase excellence.

Perhaps the bigger issue is our tendency to compare rather than appreciate.

Every medal must apparently justify itself against an Olympic medal. Every performance must survive endless qualifiers before it is allowed to be celebrated. Somewhere along the way, we seem to have forgotten that sport is also about stories, resilience and national pride.

Nobody is asking Indians to exaggerate achievements. But neither should genuine achievements be diminished.

When the Tricolour rises above the podium and the national anthem echoes through a stadium thousands of kilometres from home, athletes feel the emotion. Coaches feel it. Families watching back home feel it. Journalists covering India overseas feel it too.

That moment is real. It is earned. And it deserves applause, not an asterisk.

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