India at the 1978 Commonwealth Games

India at the
1978 Commonwealth Games
CG codeIND
CGAIndian Olympic Association
Websiteolympic.ind.in
in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Competitors47 in 9 sports
Medals
Ranked 6th
Gold
5
Silver
5
Bronze
5
Total
15
Commonwealth Games appearances (overview)

India competed at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada, held from 3 to 12 August 1978. It was India's eighth appearance at the Commonwealth Games. The Indian contingent consisted of 47 competitors who competed across ten sports. India finished sixth in the medal table, winning a total of 15 medals, including five gold, five silver and five bronze medals.

Medallists

India won fifteen medals, including five gold, five silver, and five bronze medals, and finished sixth in the overall medal table. Wrestling was India's most successful sport, contributing nine medals.[1][2]

Prakash Padukone won India's first Commonwealth Games gold medal in badminton, winning the men's singles competition.[3] Ekambaram Karunakaran won the gold medal in the men's flyweight in weightlifting.[4] Badminton players Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakar Singh were the first Indian women to win a Commonwealth Games medal, winning the women's doubles bronze during the 1978 Games.[5][6][7]

Medal Name Sport Event
1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold Prakash Padukone Badminton Men's singles
1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold Ekambaram Karunakaran Weightlifting Flyweight 52 kg
1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold Ashok Kumar Wrestling Light flyweight 48 kg
1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold Satbir Singh Wrestling Bantamweight 57 kg
1st place, gold medalist(s) Gold Rajinder Singh Wrestling Welterweight 74 kg
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver Tamil Selvan Weightlifting Bantamweight 56 kg
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver Sudesh Kumar Wrestling Flyweight 52 kg
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver Jagminder Singh Wrestling Featherweight 62 kg
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver Jagdish Kumar Wrestling Lightweight 68 kg
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Silver Satpal Singh Wrestling Heavyweight 100 kg
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Suresh Babu Athletics Men's long jump
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Ami Ghia
Kanwal Thakar Singh		 Badminton Women's doubles
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Birender Singh Thapa Boxing Light flyweight 48 kg
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Kartar Singh Wrestling Light heavyweight 90 kg
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bronze Ishwar Singh Wrestling Super heavyweight +100 kg

Competitors

The Indian contingent consisted of 47 competitors who competed across ten sports.[8]

Sport Men Women Total
Athletics 10 0 10
Badminton 4 2 6
Boxing 4 N/a 4
Cycling 1 N/a 1
Diving 2 0 2
Gymnastics 5 0 5
Shooting 5 0 5
Weightlifting 4 N/a 4
Wrestling 10 N/a 10
Total 45 2 47

Athletics

Suresh Babu won the bronze medal in the men's long jump with a distance of 7.94 m (26.0 ft).[1][8]

Track

Athlete Event Heat Quarterfinal Semifinal Final
Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank Result Rank
Ramaswamy Gnanasekharan Men's 100 metres 10.94 5 Q 10.86 7 Did not qualify
Men's 200 metres 21.60 3 Q 21.96 8
Satbir Singh Men's 110 metres hurdles 15.33 8 N/a Did not qualify
Shivnath Singh Men's 10,000 metres N/a 30:26.67 12
Men's marathon DNF

Field

Athlete Event Qualification Final
Result Rank Result Rank
Suresh Babu Men's triple jump DNS Did not qualify
Men's long jump Bye 7.94 m (26.0 ft) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Ravi Kumara 7.41 m (24.3 ft) 11
Praveen Kumar Men's discus throw N/a 49.42 m (162.1 ft) 10
Bahadur Singh Chauhan Men's shot put 16.57 m (54.4 ft) 7
Jugraj Singh Mann 16.50 m (54.1 ft) 8
Gurdeep Singh 15.74 m (51.6 ft) 9
Legend
  • Q – Qualified for the next round
For track events, ranks indicated are within the individual heats only.

Badminton

India won one gold and one bronze medal in badminton at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, with Prakash Padukone winning the men's singles title and Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakur Singh winning bronze in the women's doubles event.[1][8]

Athlete Event Round of 16 Quarter-final Semifinal Final / BM
Opposition
Result		 Opposition
Result		 Opposition
Result		 Opposition
Result		 Rank
Prakash Padukone Men's singles  Lian (MAS)
W 15–3, 15–6		  Purser (NZL)
W 15–1, 15–8		  Stevens (ENG)
W 15–0, 15–7		  Talbot (ENG)
W 15–9, 15–8		 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Syed Modi  Selvaraj (MAS)
W 15–7, 15–9		  Stevens (ENG)
L 5–15, 12–15		 Did not advance
Partho Ganguli  Sufian (MAS)
W 15–6, 15–10		  Talbot (ENG)
L 13–15, 15–13, 10–15		 Did not advance
Uday Pawar  Leong (MAS)
L 16–17, 6–15		 Did not advance
Kanwal Thakur Singh Women's singles  Youngberg (CAN)
L 10–11, 5–11		 Did not advance
Prakash Padukone
Uday Pawar		 Men's doubles N/a  Lian / Teong (MAS)
L 16–17, 15–12, 8–15		 Did not advance
Ami Ghia
Kanwal Thakur Singh		 Women's doubles  Ng / Teh (MAS)
W 15–6, 13–18, 15–8		  Perry / Statt (ENG)
L 5–15, 4–15		  Sutton / Webster (ENG)
W 15–7, 9–15, 15–5		 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Legend
  • W – Win; L – Loss

Boxing

India competed in four boxing events at the 1978 Commonwealth Games. Birender Singh Thapa won the bronze medal in the light-flyweight division.[1][8]

Athlete Event Preliminary Quarter-final Semi-final Final Rank
Opposition
Result		 Opposition
Result		 Opposition
Result		 Opposition
Result
Birender Singh Thapa Light-flyweight under 48 kg N/a  Carson (NIR)
W VPO		  Muchoki (KEN)
L VPO		 N/a 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Bakshish Singh Lightweight 60 kg  Hamill (NIR)
L VPO		 Did not advance
Chidanandan Machaiah Light-welterweight 63.5 kg  Mwangi (KEN)
L VPO		 Did not advance
Mani Kumar Rai Light-middleweight 71 kg  Chama (ZAM)
L VPO		 Did not advance
Legend
  • W – Win; L – Loss;
  • VPO – Victory by points
  • KO – Knockout
  • WO – Walkover

Cycling

Avtar Dogra Singh represented the country in the men's sprint and time trial events.[8]

Athlete Event Qualifying Quarterfinal Semifinal Final Rank
Result Result Result Result
Avtar Dogra Singh Time trial (1 km) N/a 1:14.39
1,000 m match sprint Did not qualify

Diving

India competed in diving events for the first time, with two athletes participating in the men's events.[8]

Athlete Event Result Rank
Vasant Gadge Men's 10 metre platform 274.92 points 11
Pun Dambahadur Men's 3 metre springboard 300.84 points 12

Gymnastics

India competed in artistic gymnastics at the 1978 British Commonwealth Games for the first time, with five athletes participating in the men's individual all-around competition. The Indian team also competed in the men's team competition.[8]

Athlete Event Points Rank
Bishweshwar Nandi Men's individual all-around 42.85 19
Nemai Kanji 40.05 20
Nandkumar Bhosle 38.65 21
Ahmedur Bablu 31.00 22
Manjit Singh 15.75 23
Bishweshwar Nandi
Nemai Kanji
Nandkumar Bhosle
Ahmedur Bablu
Manjit Singh		 Men's team 127.70 6

Shooting

India competed in shooting events for the first time, with five athletes participating in the men's events.[8]

Athlete Event Points Rank
Sharad Chauhan 50 m free pistol 525 11
25 m rapid-fire pistol 574 6
Raju Wader DNF
Randhir Singh Clay pigeon trap 174 8
Gurbir Singh Sandhu Skeet 165 14
Hari Singh Sandhu 165 15

Weightlifting

Four athletes competed in the weightlifting events, with Ekambaram Karunakaran winning the gold medal in the men's flyweight division and Muniswamy Tamil Selvan winning the silver medal in the men's bantamweight division.[1][8]

Athlete Event Result Rank
Ekambaram Karunakaran Flyweight 52 kg 205 kg 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Anil Paul 187.5 kg 4
Muniswamy Tamil Selvan Bantamweight 56 kg 220 kg 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Anil Mondal 212.5 kg 4

Wrestling

India won two gold medals, one silver medal and one bronze medal in wrestling at the Games.[1]

Freestyle men
Athlete Event Competition rounds Rank
Opposition
Result		 Opposition
Result		 Opposition
Result		 Opposition
Result
Ashok Kumar Light flyweight 48 kg  Stephens (AUS)
W VPO		  Dunbar (ENG)
W VFA		  Gunowski (CAN)
W VPO		 N/a 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Sudesh Kumar Flyweight 52 kg  Hoyt (AUS)
W VPO		  Takahashi (CAN)
L VPO		 N/a 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Satbir Singh Bantamweight 57 kg  Oldridge (NZL)
W DQ		  McKay (SCO)
W VFA		  Gill (ENG)
W VFA		  Barry (CAN)
W VPO		 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Jagminder Singh Featherweight 62 kg  Beiler (CAN)
L VPO		  Burke (SCO)
W VFA		  Katting (NZL)
W VPO		  Aspen (ENG)
W VPO		 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Jagdish Kumar Lightweight 68 kg  Walker (JAM)
W VFA		  Kelevitz (AUS)
L VPO		  Reinsfield (NZL)
W VPO		 N/a 4
Rajinder Singh Welterweight 74 kg  Robinson (NZL)
W VPO		  McLucas (SCO)
W VFA		  Zilberman (CAN)
W DQ		  Haward (ENG)
W DQ		 1st place, gold medalist(s)
Pannalal Yadav Middleweight 82 kg  Deschatelets (CAN)
L VPO		  Koenig (AUS)
L VFA		 N/a 5
Kartar Singh Light heavyweight 90 kg  Danier (CAN)
L VPO		  Pikos (AUS)
L VCB		 N/a 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Satpal Singh Heavyweight 100 kg  Avery (NZL)
W VPO		  Wishart (CAN)
L DQ		 N/a 2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Ishwar Singh Super heavyweight +100 kg  Gibbons (CAN)
L VPO		  Patrick (SCO)
L VFA		 N/a 3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
Legend
  • W – Win; L – Loss;
  • VPO – Victory by points
  • VFA – Victory by fall
  • VCB – Victory by Countback
  • DQ – Disqualified

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Commonwealth Games 1978". Indian Olympic Association. Archived from the original on 7 March 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  2. ↑ "India at Commonwealth Games: Quiet beginnings to rousing podium finishes". Olympics.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  3. ↑ "On This Day: Prakash Padukone wins Commonwealth Games gold medal". The Indian Express. 13 August 2018. Archived from the original on 18 May 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2025.
  4. ↑ "When India's first Weightlifting champion brought a railway station to his village". The Bridge. Archived from the original on 16 March 2026. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
  5. ↑ "Commonwealth Games 2022: The meteoric rise of India's women sportspersons". Hindustan Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2022. Retrieved 1 October 2022.
  6. ↑ Rita Nunes, Crystelle; Kulkarni, Abhijeet (14 May 2020). "Know your legend: Ami Ghia, a path-breaking and unsung hero of Indian badminton". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 21 March 2021. Retrieved 23 March 2021.
  7. ↑ Srivastava, Palash (3 July 2022). "Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakar Singh — First Indian women to win Commonwealth Games medal". The Bridge. Archived from the original on 12 August 2022. Retrieved 12 August 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Commonwealth Games 1978". Commonwealth Games Federation. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2026.
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