The Indian Military, primarily represented by the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), has been a foundational pillar of India’s sporting history, contributing to the Commonwealth Games (CWG) since India’s very first appearance in 1934. Through rigorous systematic training via the Army Sports Institute (ASI) and multiple nodal centres, military personnel have historically anchored India's multi-sport success, culminating in stellar historic milestones and record-breaking performances at the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.
In the Commonwealth Games held in Gold Coast, Australia in 2018, India finished third overall, winning a staggering 66 medals (26 Gold, 20 Silver and 20 Bronze medals). Out of these 66 medals, Indian Armed Forces personnel won 13 individual medals as under:
- Indian Army (3 Gold, 3 Silver and 4 Bronze medals): Naib Subedar Neeraj Chopra - Gold medal in Athletics (Javelin Throw); Subedar Jitu Rai - Gold medal in Shooting; Havildar Gaurav Solanki - Gold medal in Boxing; Naib Subedar Amit Panghal - Silver medal in Boxing; Naib Subedar Manish Kaushik - Silver medal in Boxing; Subedar Satish Kumar - Silver medal in Boxing; Havildar Omprakash Mitharval - Two Bronze medals in Shooting; Naib Subedar Deepak Lather - Bronze medal in Weightlifting; Havildar Mohammed Hussamuddin - Bronze medal in Boxing.
- Indian Air Force (1 Silver and 2 Bronze medals): Sergeant Gururaja Poojary - Silver medal in Weightlifting; Junior Warrant Officer Vikas Thakur - Bronze medal in Weightlifting; Junior Warrant Officer Ravi Kumar - Bronze medal in Shooting.
At the 2022 CWG held in Birmingham, India finished overall fourth, winning 61 medals (22 Gold, 18 Silver and 23 Bronze medals. Out of these 61 medals, Indian Armed Forces personnel won 13 individual medals as under:
- Indian Army (4 Gold, 1 Silver and 3 Bronze medals): Naib Subedar Jeremy Lalrinnunga -Gold medal in Weightlifting; Havildar Achinta Sheuli - Gold medal in Weightlifting; Subedar Deepak Punia -Gold medal in Wrestling; Subedar Amit Panghal - Gold medal in Boxing; Naib Subedar Avinash Sable - Silver medal in Athletics (Men's 3000m steeplechase); Subedar Mohammad Hussamuddin - Bronze medal in Boxing; Subedar Sandeep Kumar - Bronze medal in Athletics (Men's 10,000m race walk); Havildar Deepak Nehra - Bronze medal in Wrestling.
- Indian Navy (2 Gold medals): Petty Officer Eldhose Paul - Gold medal in Athletics (Men's Triple Jump); Petty Officer PT Naveen Malik - Gold medal in Wrestling.
- Indian Air Force (2 Silver and 1 Bronze medals): Sergeant Abdulla Aboobacker - Silver medal in Athletics (Men's Triple Jump); Junior Warrant Officer Vikas Thakur - Silver medal in Weightlifting; Junior Warrant Officer Gururaja Poojary - Bronze medal in Weightlifting.
The 2026 Glasgow CWG was a highly streamlined scaled-down model; to reduce costs, nine major sports were axed from the program. Crucially, this included Shooting and Wrestling - the two traditional strongholds of the Indian Armed Forces sports programs. India finished fourth on the overall medal table, winning a total of 39 medals – 13 Gold, 17 Silver and 9 Bronze medals. Despite the removal of these core military sports, members of the Indian Armed Forces still left a massive mark, primarily dominating the Boxing ring and Para-Athletics.
At Glasgow Indian Armed Forces athletes spearheaded unprecedented podium sweeps, securing historic firsts across several disciplines. The military displayed absolute domination in boxing. The Indian Army formed nearly 78.57% of the national boxing contingent, leading India to its best-ever boxing haul of 10 medals (7 Gold, 3 Silver). Women pugilists leading the charge included soldiers Sakshi Chaudhary, Arundhati Choudhary, Jaismine Lamboria, and Preeti Panwar achieving a flawless 100% conversion rate, with all four clinching gold medals. The Army’s long-distance runner Gulveer Singh became the first Indian ever to win a medal in the gruelling men's 10,000-meter event, tracking a brilliant final-lap sprint to take a historic Silver medal (27:49.78). He followed it up with a bronze in the 5,000m to become the first Indian to claim two distance running medals at a single edition. The Indian Army’s para-athlete Soman Rana, a landmine blast survivor who suffered a below-knee amputation while deployed on the Line of Control (LoC) in 2006 won India’s first-ever Gold medal in the Men’s F57 Shot Put. Alongside training partner Shubham Juyal, he secured India's historic maiden one-two finish in the discipline.
Indian Armed Forces medal winner included the following:
- Indian Army: Subedar Sachin Siwach – Gold medal in boxing; Subedar Amit Panghal – Gold in Boxing; Subedar Neeraj Copra – Silver Medal in Athletics (Javelin throw); Subedar Soman Rana – Gold medal in para -athletics (shot put); Subedar Narender Berwal – Silver medal in boxing Naib Subedar Jaismine Lamboria – Gold medal in boxing; Naib Subedar Gulveer Singh - Silver & Bronze (2 Medals) in 10,000m and 5,000m respectively; Havildar Sakshi Chaudhary – Gold medal in boxing; Havildar Arundhati Choudhary – Gold medal in boxing.
- Indian Navy: Petty Officer Hitesh Gulia - Gold Medal in weightlifting; Chief Petty Officer Chanambam Rishikanta Singh - Silver Medal in weightlifting; Chief Petty Officer Lovepreet Singh - Silver Medal in weightlifting.
- Indian Air Force: Warrant Officer Vikas Thakur - Silver Medal in weightlifting.
The credit for transforming India’s boxing mainly goes to Colonel Arun Malik who has been serving for some years as the Executive Director of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI). He has completed four full Ironman races and six Ironman Half-Ironman) races; finishing the gruelling Ironman 70.3 Oman in 2019 with a time of 5 hours and 28 minutes. Originally belonging to 19 Guards, he commanded 12 Guards during his active military career. As the Executive Director of the BFI, he has played a central role in restructuring India's boxing governance, transitioning the sport through international alignment, and managing high-stakes athlete policies. He spearheaded BFI's alignment with the new governing body, World Boxing and in early 2025 was appointed by World Boxing to an elite six-member interim committee alongside BFI President Ajay Singh to stabilize administrative operations, manage bank accounts, and oversee domestic and international tournament selection.
The 2030 CWG are to be held in Ahmedabad (India) - one year after India’s General Elections scheduled in 2029. It is not known whether the major sports excluded from CWG, including wrestling and shooting will be included in the 20230 CWG. With a population tracking over 1.4 billion people, India alone accounts for more than half (roughly 55%) of the entire Commonwealth's combined 2.5 billion population. Besides India is the third largest country in the Commonwealth by geographic size. The pursuit of excellence being a never-ending process, India and the Indian Armed Forces can be expected to continue improving on all fronts. Good luck to all.
The author is an Indian Army veteran. Views expressed are personal.
