Northern Ireland led the European charge with three Commonwealth Games boxing titles Wednesday, but was matched in the gold medal count by Indian boxers who won all three of the finals they contested.
England won two gold medals and Scotland ensured one to give boxers from the United Kingdom the majority of the 10 gold medals on offer, but a Sri Lankan won a rare gold for his country to keep the sub-continent in contention at the alkatora Stadium.
The day started with Northern Ireland's Paddy Barnes prevailing in the first final and culminated with Paramjeet Samota clinching gold for India in the super heavy weight category.
''Paramjeet had promised me a gold here and I am happy that he delivered after we won two earlier in the day,'' said coach G.S. Sandhu as India finished with seven medals in the competition. ''Indian boxers did well here but the vacuum of gold medals that we felt has been more than filled up now.''
The focus was on Northern Ireland from early on and the most heavily supported man was Eamonn O'Kane as he won the third final for his team against Anthony Ogogo of England, who had beaten local favorite Vijender Singh in a controversial semifinal.
O'Kane made the most of the support to score an easy 16-4 victory against an opponent who had failed to land a single scoring punch in the previous round but made it through as he was awarded four penalty points.
England won gold through Simon Vallily and Thomas Stalker, while Callum Johnson of Scotland emphasized the tilt in power towards boxers from the United Kingdom. England and Northern Ireland each had five boxers into the finals, with two from Scotland and one from Wales.
Suranjoy Singh won the first of India's three golds when his Kenyan opponent Benson Njangiru conceded a walk-over in the 52-kilogram fight due to a wrist injury. Manoj Kumar thrashed Bradley Saunders of England 11-2 for the 64-kilogram title, while Samota beat Trinidad's Tariq Abdul Haqq 5-1 in the over 91-kilogram final.
European champion and Olympic bronze medalist Barnes scored an impressive 8-4 victory over defending champion Jafed Uutoni of Namibia to clinch the 49-kilogram gold. Patrick Gallagher beat England's Callum Smith 11-6 in the 69-kilogram gold for Northern Ireland's second gold.
In other results, Thomas Stalker of England won the 60-kilogram gold beating Josh Taylor of Scotland 11-3, Callum Johnson of Scotland beat Thomas McCarthy of Northern Ireland in the 81-kilogram final, while Manju Wanniarachchi of Sri Lanka beat Sean McGoldrick of Wales on a countback after a 7-7 scoreline.
Barnes won after facing a brief resistance in the second round, when the score was 5-4.
''I always had it under control,'' said Barnes, who rated the win above his third place at the Olympics. ''I am No. 1 in the Commonwealth and next year I'll be No. 1 in the world.''
His compatriot Gallagher was more subdued.
''I put everything into it. I wasn't at the top of my game, but I am very happy with the outcome,'' he said.
For Sri Lanka, Wanniarachchi had already assured his country of its first medal since 1950 by making the semifinals. But the 30-year-old accountant was determined to win the gold when he took on the 19-year-old McGoldrick.
''My only aim was to win gold here, nothing less would do,'' he told reporters after being declared winner of the 56-kilogram division on countback (16:14).
In the 60-kilogram final, England captain Stalker was a convincing 11-3 winner over Josh Taylor of Scotland.
