Day 5 at the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow presents India’s biggest single-day medal opportunity, with up to 11 medals up for grabs across weightlifting, athletics, para-sports, gymnastics, and swimming. The Indian contingent will begin their day in 8th place on the standings with four medals—one gold, two silvers, and one bronze—after weightlifter Mirabai Chanu secured gold on Sunday. Converting even a fraction of today’s 11 potential podium finishes would push India significantly higher up the leaderboard.
There will be 13 Indian athletes in action across nine events. Seven of those events will be direct finals where medals will be decided immediately, and three of those will see India field multiple entries.
India’s strongest medal prospects rest in weightlifting and the high jump. Bindyarani Devi enters the women’s 58kg weightlifting final as the top candidate, looking to build on her silver medal and Games record from Birmingham 2022. Gyaneshwari Yadav is similarly a frontrunner in the women’s 53kg final as the top-ranked Commonwealth lifter with a 194kg personal best. In track and field, national record holder Tejaswin Shankar leads the men’s high jump final after winning bronze last time out. And the men’s 79kg weightlifting final will see V Ajaya Babu compete in a tight field where Indian lifters have often made it to the podium.
In the men’s high jump, a full three-medal podium sweep is mathematically possible, with Sarvesh Anil Kushare, J Aadarsh Ram and Tejaswin Shankar in the fray. Medal odds are also positive in the two para-athletics events, with two Indian participants in each direct final. Sharmila Dhankar and Shilpa K. Shyla will line up in the women’s shot put F57 final, while Rakeshbhai Bhatt and Shreyansh Trivedi will be contesting the men’s 100m T38 sprint final. The medal trail gets steeper in artistic gymnastics, where Protistha Samanta will compete in the women’s vault final against heavy-hitting competition, including Canada’s multi-time champion Ellie Black and vault specialist Lia-Monica Fontaine, alongside Australia’s Georgia Godwin.
The remaining two events — across athletics and swimming — require qualifying in the morning heats before an evening final. In the former, national record holder Tejas Shirse will be contesting the men’s 110m hurdles. If Shirse (personal best 13.27 seconds) advances, he will face a hurdle field headlined by Jamaica’s defending champion Rasheed Broadbell and England’s Joshua Zeller. For the latter, swimmer Sajan Prakash has possibly the toughest path to a medal of any Indian athlete in action today. Prakash, contesting the men’s 200m butterfly, will face a two-stage draw starting with the morning heats. Should he reach the evening final, he will go head-to-head against South African Olympic legend Chad le Clos and New Zealand’s defending Commonwealth champion Lewis Clareburt, making a podium finish a steep uphill climb.
