Welsh boxer McGoldrick may earn late Commonwealth gold

Sean McGoldrick (right) fights Manju Wanniarachchi

McGoldrick (right) exceeded expectation by reaching the final

Welsh boxer Sean McGoldrick could be in line for a belated Commonwealth Games gold medal after champion Manju Wanniarachchi failed a drugs test.

McGoldrick, 18, lost the bantamweight final on countback but the Sri Lankan has tested positive for nandrolone.

He has 14 days to request a 'B' sample and until 4 November to respond to the charges, and has pulled out of the Asian Games, citing injury.

Welsh boxing hero Colin Jones said: "It's very sad news [for] boxing."

Jones was in McGoldrick's corner as one of his coaches and felt the youngster in any case edged the contest.

"Nobody ever expects to be awarded the gold medal by award of default," said the three-time world title challenger.

"But I think the whole nation was behind Sean and I think that probably 100% of the nation thought he'd won it anyway."

Another Welsh coach, Tony Williams, said: "I thought Sean did enough to win gold on the day. He'd be a very deserving gold winner."

At the time Newport-born McGoldrick, who was the youngest of Wales' nine-man boxing team at the Games in Dehli, said he was "a little disappointed" to lose the final but "I tried my best and I'm over the moon with silver".

Wanniarachchi's gold medal was his country's first in boxing in 72 years, and he was hailed as a national hero when he returned home.

A statement from the Commonwealth Games Federation said: "Sri Lankan boxer, Manju Wanniarachchi, has been named as the fifth athlete to return an adverse analytical finding from anti-doping tests conducted during the recent Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

"The 'A' sample of Mr Wanniarachchi, who took the gold medal in the bantamweight competition on October 13, was found to contain 19-norandrosterone, a prohibited anabolic agent under category S1 of the WADA list of prohibited substances and methods.

"In accordance with the CGF anti-doping standard (ADS), Mr Wanniarachchi has been notified of the finding through the Sri Lankan Commonwealth Games Association.

"The athlete now has until November 4 to respond to the finding, after which the formal hearing process will commence."

Three Nigerian athletes have already produced positive drugs tests from the Games.

Osayemi Oludamola was stripped of her 100m gold medal, Sade Abugan lost two silver medals and Samuel Okon, who was sixth in the men's 110m hurdles, also tested positive.