New Delhi: India won 101 medals at the Commonwealth Games - its highest in the Games' history - and elbowed out England to clinch the second spot in the overall medals table, thanks to Saina Nehwal's gold late on the concluding day of the biggest sporting event the country has hosted since the Asian Games in 1982.
Adding to Saina's 'golden' glory on day 11, gold in badminton women's doubles from Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa, silver in men's hockey and two bronze from table tennis took the medal count to 101 as the curtains come down on the Games that started with a spectacular opening ceremony on October 3.
The Indian gold count ended at a staggering figure of 38 and with 27 silver and 36 bronze the total sky-rocketed to 101. In the process, India beat leap-frogged England - who had 37 gold - to set its altar at the second spot behind Australia. England, however, have more silver (58) bronze (45).
Hours before the end of the Games, India and England were in close race for the second spot on the medals table as both had 37 gold.
While Jwala and Ashwini just took 39 minutes to pack off Singapore's top-seeded duo Yao Lei and Sari Shinta Mulia 21-16, 21-19, the men's hockey squad were thrashed by world champion Australia in the final of the event 0-8.
Jwala and Ashwini received a standing ovation from the packed hall at the Siri Fort Complex for their splendid showing in the finals.
However, the men's hockey team were no match to Australia who scored four goals in the first half and an equal number in the second.
The Indian men could not score a single goal despite the thousands of spectators - led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh himself - at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium cheering them on.
Singh was at the stadium at the start of the match and was seated in the VIP enclosure along with many hockey greats.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal and CWG Organising Committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi were also present at the venue.
The bronze came from Mouma Das and Poulomi Ghatak in the table tennis doubles. They beat Peri Campbell-Innes and Vivian Tan (AUS) 11-4, 11-7, 11-1 at the Yamuna Sports Complex on Thursday. The second bronze was won by Sharath Kamal in an all-Indian battle. He beat Soumyadeep Roy 11-8, 11-5, 12-10, 11-9.
India's last action of the Games came from top-seeded shuttler Saina Nehwal, who became the first women Indian shuttler to win a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games after a grueling three-game victory over Malaysian Mew Choo Wong in the individual badminton event here on Thursday.
World number three Saina bounced back from a game down to battle past Wong 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 in a nerve-wrecking 70-minute title clash in the women's singles amid the continuous cheering from the vociferous crowd at the Siri Fort Sports Complex.
Overall, India achieved unprecedented success in athletics by bagging 12 medals, including two gold, three silver and seven bronze. The total is two more than the medals it won in all the earlier editions.
The major chunk of the medal haul came from the shooting contingent that won 30 medals in all. Of that, there were an outstanding 14 gold other than 11 silver and five bronze.
The archers too found their mark, though not as often as the shooters but good enough to win three gold, one silver and four bronze.
Fancied fisticuff exponents Vijender Singh and Akhil Kumar were ousted early but Indian boxers still delivered a historic golden punch to come up with their best-ever campaign in the Games history.
With a hat-trick of gold plus four bronze medals, the Indian ring stylists recorded their best medal haul at the quadrennial multi-discipline sports event, bettering the 2006 campaign at Melbourne by two.
The three titles -- won through Suranjoy Singh (52kg), Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Paramjeet Samota (+91kg) -- are unprecedented for India, for whom previously only Mohd Ali Qamar (2002) and Akhil Kumar (Melbourne, 56kg) had finished on top.
The curtain comes down on the Games later on Thursday with a laser show. While the opening ceremony showcased cultural diversity, the closing will highlight contemporary India.
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