India has won more than 600 Commonwealth Games medals since 1934, but a small handful of athletes account for a disproportionate share of that total.
Jaspal Rana – the outright leader
Pistol shooter Jaspal Rana remains India’s most successful Commonwealth Games athlete by some distance. Across four editions, from Victoria 1994 to Melbourne 2006, he won 15 medals – nine gold, four silver and two bronze – dominating pistol shooting through the 1990s and early 2000s. Rana, who later became a respected shooting coach, passed away in June 2026 at the age of 49.
Samaresh Jung – a single-Games record
Fellow shooter Samaresh Jung sits just behind Rana with 14 career medals across the 2002, 2006 and 2010 editions. His standout moment came at Melbourne 2006, where he won seven medals – five gold, one silver and one bronze – in a single Games, a haul that earned him the David Dixon Award.
Sharath Kamal – the non-shooter on the list
Table tennis great Sharath Kamal is the only athlete outside shooting among India’s three most successful Commonwealth Games competitors, with 13 medals, seven of them gold, built up across multiple editions of the Games.
Sushil Kumar’s wrestling three-peat
Wrestler Sushil Kumar never matched those overall medal counts, but his achievement of winning gold in the 66kg freestyle category at three consecutive Games – New Delhi 2010, Glasgow 2014 and Gold Coast 2018 – remains one of the most dominant individual runs in Indian Commonwealth Games history.
With shooting and wrestling both absent from the Glasgow 2026 programme, none of Rana’s or Jung’s records were under threat this time. But both sports return for Ahmedabad 2030, which means a new generation – potentially including several of the breakout names from Glasgow 2026 – will get a genuine shot at climbing this list on home soil.