India’s participation in the earlier Games was merely symbolic. India’s true operation in the British Empire and Commonwealth Games began from the Cardiff Games 1958. India appraised its first golden success in the Commonwealth Games through the prodigious feats of that tall, thin sikh from the Indian Army who not only won the gold in the 440 yards run, but also the hearts of those who saw him then. The elegant Milkha Singh’s was a solitary rousing performance for Indian athlete at Commonwealth Games at Cardiff. He ran a superb 440 yards race clocking 46.6 seconds. Wrestler Lila Ram joined Milkha in the gold medal honours. He won the gold in the heavy weight (100 kgs) category. Another wrestler Lakshmikant Pande won a silver in the welterweight (74 kg) category. Since then, the major portion of our success has been in wrestling, weightlifting and shooting. The war with China kept India out at Perth (Australia) in 1962. The host regained the top spot with aggregate of 105 medals (38 gold, 36 silver and 31 bronze). The Australian superiority in pool was complete, with 17 of the 27 titles, including all five relays-four with new world records. India returned strongly to the Kingston (Jamaica). Indian wrestlers have registered themselves into the record books of the Commonwealth Games in a big way. At Kingston in 1966, they won three gold, four silver and three bronze medals. The most of these medals were won by wrestlers who had a rich haul of 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze medals. The gold medal winners were Bishamber Singh (Bantamweight – 57 kg), Mukhtiar Singh (Lightweight – 68 kg) and Bhim Singh (Heavyweight – 100 kg). During the Games, the organizers decided that a title should be changed from the British Empire and Commonwealth Games to the ‘British Commonwealth Games.
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