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You know the CWG-2018 tally. Now know the Commonwealth games history !

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Thud Thud…. The crackling sound reverberated five times in quick succession, when a pistol fired at targets 25 meters away. But all of them were perfect shots. Sensing the same, the young shooter smiled; a smile of satisfaction and contentment, for things have proceeded exactly the way he prepared and sweated for. 

Next to fire was a 20 year old Aussie, who really couldn’t conceal his nervousness. He had a goal too far-fetched to achieve. Nevertheless, putting all his experience into action, he fired the five shots in quick succession. Magnificent shots, but not just good enough to grab the yellow metal. 
Sergei Evglevski, a tad disheartened, could only win silver. 

On the other hand, a jubilated 15 year old, Anish Bhanwala, had created history with a record score of 30 in the '25m rapid fire pistol event' and history for being the youngest gold medalist in CWG for India, bettering the record created a few days back by compatriot Manu Bhaker (another prodigy, all of 16 years). And we couldn't be less proud! Seeing the 15-16 year old winning medals at international senior events, really gives me goose bumps. I wonder what I was doing at the same age. Winning an inter colony cricket tournament was a big accomplishment back then. 

The current edition of CWG has been special for India because of the new crop of stars such as Manika Batra(TT), Neeraj Chopra(Javelin throw), Muhammad Anas(400m race), Mehuli Ghosh (shooting) along with Manu Bhaker and Anish Bhanwala. Since the beginning of CWG, this year was the 3rd highest medal haul for India. But, what is the beginning of CWG?

Borobi - Mascot of CWG 2018
Borobi - Mascot of CWG 2018

When did the CWG begin and why?

The games started off in the year 1930 as British Empire Games, based on the suggestions by a sports reporter Melville Marks Robinson. During his stint as a manager of Canadian 'track and field' team for 1928 Olympics, he found out that an athlete 'Phil Edwards' couldn’t participate in Olympics as a member of British Guiana (his nation which was a colony of British Empire), since there wasn’t a separate team of his country. He therefore had to join the Canada team. 

Taking a cue, Marks Robinson pitched his idea to people at the Amsterdam Olympics, which culminated in the formation of British empire games in 1930. A total of 11 countries participated in the inaugural event. The name continued the same for the four editions. The fifth edition of the games were known as British Empire and Commonwealth Games while the word Empire held on until in 1970, when the name was modified to British Commonwealth Games. The current name 'Commonwealth games' came into effect on 1978. The summary of the names is below:
CWG Names history
CWG Names - A Timeline

What is Queen’s baton relay?

An important thing related to CWG is the baton relay. It starts from the Buckingham palace in London, carrying a message from the Head of Commonwealth (currently Queen Elizabeth II). The baton passes through all the commonwealth nations urging the athletes across the countries to participate in the games in a friendly manner. The baton for the 2018 Gold coast games covered a distance of 230,000 km travelling for 388 days and finishing its journey on 4th April 2018 in Australia, marking the commencement of the games. 

We understood the history of games, but what about the Commonwealth? What is its background? 

The Commonwealth has its origin with the British empire rule. The countries ruled by the empire, directly/indirectly, came together to form the British Commonwealth of Nations. Some of these countries were independent, yet recognized the British monarchy as the Head of State. The Commonwealth association came into effect in the year 1949 and currently also includes nations that have had no connection whatsoever with the British empire. Rwanda and Mozambique are the last two nations to join Commonwealth, confirming to the previous statement.

Nerd notes

  1. In 1998 CWG, Cricket was also included. New Zealand won bronze, Australia claimed silver while South Africa won gold. It was not included for subsequent editions of CWG
  2. The 2018 CWG were the first multi-sport games in history to have an equal number of events for men and women
  3. Robert Pitcairn created a record to debut the CWG-2018 at the age of 79 years & 9 months 
  4. A total of 71 teams participated in the contest held recently in Gold Coast
  5. Prince Charles will be the next Head of Commonwealth, as announced recently

WittyScribble congratulates the Indian contingent for their superlative performance in the CWG-2018 and wishes them all the very best for the upcoming Asian Games.

And as always, thanks for reading.

- Prakhar

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Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

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