The XVIII th Commonwealth games were held in Melbourne ( Australia ) from march 15-26,2006.

Around 4500 athletes from 71 nations participated in this 12 days sports extravaganza. 

The host Australia topped the medals tally with 221 (84 gold ,69 silver , 68 bronze) medals while England finished second .Canada placed third with 86 medals .

However India slipped to fourth position with 50 medals where as it had third place in the 17th Commonwealth Games in Manchester,2002.

               Medal Table

Country	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Australia	84	69	68
England	36	40	34
Canada	26	29	31
India	22	17	11
South Africa	12	13	13

The first gold medal of the game was won by India's N.Kunjarani Devi in the 48kg. weightlifting category .India put up a spectacular performance in shooting, table tennis, boxing and weightlifting.

Indian sharpshooter Samaresh jung was honoured with the David Dixon Award by the commonwealth Games Federation ,after being adjudged the best athlete of the 18th Commonwealth Games .

Jung who won 5 Gold, 1 Silver, & 1 Bronze medals in pistol shooting competition ,became the first Indian to bag this honour in the games history .