Sri Lanka on Wednesday won its first gold medal in 72 years and India picked up three to prevent a rout by British boxers in the Commonwealth Games boxing finals. Manju Wanniarachchi, a 30-year-old lingerie factory worker from Kandy, beat Wales' Sean McGoldrick in the bantamweight division, sparking wild celebrations among his team and Sri Lankan fans at the Talkatora Indoor Stadium. 'It's a great victory for us after 72 years,' his manager Dian Gomes told selfnews. '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.' The Sri Lankan fighter had already become his country's first boxing medal winner since the Auckland Games in 1950 by winning his quarter-final on Sunday, guaranteeing him at least a bronze. The last gold was won by Ansdale 'Barney' Henricus in Sydney in 1938. Wanniarchchi was the only non-British boxer to win gold in the first session of the contest, but India added three in the second to stop a rout by the British 'home nations'. In the end, British boxers won six of the 10 golds on offer (Northern Ireland three, England two, Scotland one). India's Suranjoy Mayengbam won flyweight gold without having to throw a punch after Kenya's Benson Njangiru failed to show. The referee declared the 24-year- old a winner by a walkover. Manoj Kumar immediately followed up with a win against England's Bradley Saunders by 11-2 on points in the light welterweight division. Paramjeet Samota rounded off the finals with super-heavyweight gold, beating Tariq Abdul Haqq from Trinidad and Tobago 5-1. In all, the hosts won seven boxing medals (three gold, four bronze), ahead of Northern Ireland with five (three gold, two silver) and England on five (two gold, three silver). Northern Ireland had waited 16 years to win boxing gold again at the Commonwealth Games. But they saw their victory anthem 'Danny Boy' played three times after European champion Paddy Barnes won the light flyweight crown and Paddy Gallagher was victorious in the welterweight division. Eamonn O'Kane made it three with a convincing 16-4 win over England's Anthony Ogogo in the middleweight division, winning the 100th medal for the province in Games history. Barnes, 23, beat defending champion Jafet Uutoni from Namibia 8-4. 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. Smith's fellow Liverpudlian Tom Stalker easily beat Scotland's Josh Taylor in the lightweight division. 'It's the best feeling in the world,' said the 26-year-old European silver medallist. '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. Heavyweight Simon Vallily added England's second after he sent Northern Ireland's Steven Ward to the canvas and the referee stopped the fight. Scotland's Callum Johnson won 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. 'That tattoo is definitely going to be done in gold,' he said. 