NEW DELHI: Sri Lanka clinched its first boxing gold medal at the Commonwealth Games since 1938 through veteran Manju Wanniarachchi and thanked India for contributing to its historic feat.The 31-year-old Wanniarachchi defeated Welshman Sean McGoldrick on count back after being tied 7-7 with him in the bantamweight 56kg finals at the Talkatora Stadium.Wanniarachchi became the first boxing medalist for Sri Lanka in 60 years and the first gold winner in 72 years.Barney Henricus was the last Sri Lankan to win a boxing Gold at the British Empire Games in Sydney in 1938. The Island nation’s previous Games boxing medals were two Silver and a Bronze in Auckland in 1950.The emotionally overwhelmed Wanniarachchi could not hold back his tears after the historic win and his coach Dian Gomes said a lot of credit for the triumph goes to the time he spent training at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala with Indian coaches.”He has trained in Patiala with Indian coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu and this has helped him immensely. The last time he was here, it was before the Beijing Olympics but he has come here a lot of times. I thank India for helping Sri Lanka in achieving this historic triumph,” he said hugging his boxer, who let the coach do the talking on his behalf.
“Whenever Sri Lanka prepares for big events such as Olympics and Commonwealth Games, we always ask for India’s help and they always support us. I thank the Indian Boxing Federation,” he added.Wanniarachchi fights in the same category as Akhil Kumar, who lost in the quarterfinals, and the two had even faced off five years ago in the finals of the South Asian Games where the Indian star beat him by a point.”He lost by a point to Akhil and won a silver there but it was a good experience,” he recalled.
Wanniarachchi was up against a rival who had beaten Olympic bronze-medalist Bruno Julie of Mauritius in the semifinals but Gomes said his ward was confident of pulling off a win.”He was not at all nervous. He was very confident about winning the gold in his last Commonwealth Games appearance,” he said.It was also a historic day for Northern Ireland, which clinched its maiden Commonwealth Games boxing gold in 16 years through European champion Paddy Barnes. Barnes defeated defending champion Jafet Uutoni of Namibia 8-4 in the light flyweight finals.This was Northern Ireland’s first gold medal in boxing since 1994, when Jim Webb and Neil Sinclair finished on top – Timesofindia
