NEW DELHI: Manju Wanniarachchi on Wednesday won Sri Lanka's first gold medal in boxing in 72 years, as British fighters dominated the first session of the final day of the Commonwealth Games competition.
The 30-year-old knicker factory worker from Kandy beat Wales' Sean McGoldrick in the bantamweight division, sparking wild celebrations among his team and Sri Lankan fans in the crowd at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium.
His was the only non-British win in the first five of 10 fights, which saw Northern Ireland take two golds -- their first since 1994 -- and England and Scotland get a gold medal each.
Wanniarachchi was awarded the fight for being the most aggressive boxer after he and 18-year-old McGoldrick were 7-7 on points after the third round.
His manager Dian Gomes told AFP: “It's a great victory for us after 72 years. It means so much for boxing in Sri Lanka. This is one of the greatest victories of all time. It's as good as winning the cricket World Cup.”
He had already become the island nation's first boxing medal winner since the Auckland Games in 1950 by winning his quarter-final match on Sunday, guaranteeing him at least a bronze.
The country's last gold was won by Ansdale “Barney” Henricus in Sydney in 1938.
Northern Ireland's anthem “Danny Boy” was played twice on the podium after European champion Paddy Barnes won the light flyweight crown and Paddy Gallagher was victorious in the welterweight division.
Barnes beat defending champion Jafet Uutoni from Namibia 8-4 in the first bout, giving a perfect start to the team, which has five boxers in the finals.
“It's the first gold medal and hopefully it won't be the last,” said 23-year-old Barnes, who was joint fifth in Melbourne in 2006.
Gallagher's 11-6 win over Callum Smith robbed the 20-year-old from Liverpool of adding another Commonwealth boxing gold to his family's collection.
Brothers Stephen and Paul won featherweight gold in Melbourne and silver in the light-welterweight division in Manchester in 2002 respectively.
There was better news for Smith's fellow Liverpudlian Tom Stalker, when he easily beat Scotland's Josh Taylor in the lightweight division, giving him gold to add to his European championships silver.
“It's the best feeling in the world,” said the 26-year-old. “I'm happy for my country. I've got a gold medal and I couldn't be prouder.”
Stalker only started boxing at the age of 18 and had his first fight a year later. Beforehand he admitted to being a “tearaway” until he got his life on track through boxing.
Like Northern Ireland, England has five fighters in the finals. It leads the medal table in Commonwealth boxing and in Melbourne won medals in eight of the weight divisions, including five golds.
Scotland's Callum Johnson made up for Taylor's disappointment by winning the light heavyweight gold, beating Northern Ireland's Thomas McCarthy 8-1.
The 25-year-old has had to take two weeks off work unpaid to come to New Delhi as he receives no funding from the British boxing authorities.
But he said his win had shown that he should be on the country's elite athletes programme as he was now “the best in Britain”.
He had pledged to get a new tattoo whatever the result on Wednedsay.
“That tattoo is definitely going to be done in gold,” he said. -AFP
