Indian sportswomen have taken the 2018 Commonwealth Games by a storm. They have their names on half of the gold medals the country has won so far, including a few historic firsts.

Back home in India, two women in their early 60s have been following the results with much interest, not only proud of these young women, but also of having played a crucial part in the beginning of this history, 40 years ago.

Ami Ghia and Kanwal Thakar Singh were the first Indian women to win a medal at Commonwealth Games during the 1978 edition in Edmonton, Canada. They had won the women’s doubles bronze in badminton. The 1978 edition, which is marked in the history also because of Prakash Padukone’s gold medal-winning run in men’s singles.

Four decades laters, Ami and Kanwal don’t really remember how that campaign was run; a vivid memory is how it was a bit unnerving to be part of a contingent. As reported by Scroll, Kanwal Thakar Singh recalled, “In the whole contingent we were the only two women with about 40-odd men. There used to be many women members in the Asian Games contingent but somehow we were the only two women sent for the Commonwealth Games.”

In fact, the only time women had represented India in the Commonwealth Games before 1978 was back in 1958 when Stephanie D’Souza, the first Indian woman to be awarded the Arjuna Award, and Elizabeth Davenport had participated in the track and field events.

Buoyed by the duo Ami-Kanwal’ success, in the 1982 Games, India sent a bigger badminton squad, and even a few swimmers and one woman athlete, and over the years women have had a sizeable presence in the Indian contingent.

Kanwal admitted they didn’t go with any expectation into the tournament, but insisted that they always believed in giving their best whenever they took the court. “The real challenge during that time was that we would get to play on synthetic courts only in major tournaments and we used to struggle because our feet used to get stuck sometimes. Though me and Ami didn’t play much together before the Games, we were good friends and used to play well together,” said the 63-year-old, who is also the only Indian woman to win an individual medal in badminton at the Asian Games so far.

Ghia was known for her quality strokes, while her partner was an aggressive player with a strong hit, and the combination worked wonderfully well in the matches they won. “It was a special medal for us because we would hardly get to play many international events and so the exposure was not that much. But before the Commonwealth Games, I got to play in a couple of international events and that helped in Edmonton,” shared Ami.

“We were outplayed by Nora Perry and her partner in the semis but we told ourselves that we will give our all in the bronze medal match and we could win a medal for the country,” said Ami, who later rose to a career high ranking of seventh in World Grand Prix circuit and had the distinction of being the youngest captain of the Uber Cup team till Saina Nehwal began shouldering that responsibility about a decade earlier.

It took 32 years for another women’s doubles pair from India to win a medal in the competition. Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa bagged the historic gold in the 2010 Games in New Delhi, followed up with a silver winning performance in Glasgow four years later.

While Kanwal Thakar Singh moved to US soon after her marriage in 1984 and just recently moved back to Chandigarh, Ghia was the national selector for a long time and closely follows the progress of most of the current players. She said, “India is a superpower in world badminton now with the likes of Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth and many others winning consistently. But I am happy that we contributed in the journey in some way.”

H/T: The Scroll