India did not select its strongest team, with two Olympic qualifiers and the Asian Games on the horizon, but won nine golds in the seniors, and piled up 29 more in the youth and junior events.

That helped India to top the team classification in all three age groups in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh.

Opeloge failed with his final attempt at 214 kilograms after five good lifts and made 172-207-379 at 102kg, setting a sweep of Commonwealth records.

"That was truly a world class performance," said Paul Coffa, general secretary of the Commonwealth Weightlifting Federation.

The competition, held at the Gautam Buddha University, was top class all round according to many of the delegates.

"India did a fantastic job," said Coffa. 

"The stage and the organisation was world standard.

"It was good to see so many winners from the different countries particularly in the senior section. Samoan lifters were outstanding, so were the English lifters."

His total would have put Opeloge into the top 15 in the Paris 2024 rankings if this had been a qualifier.

He finished more than 200 Robi points clear of second-placed Narayana Ajith from India, the 73kg winner on 308kg, in the individual ranking list.

Other winners from Samoa were Nevo Ioane, who made a 280kg total at 67kg, Sanele Mao with 380kg in the men’s super-heavyweights and Iuniarra Sipaia in the women’s supers.

Sipaia, who missed her final attempts in both snatch and clean and jerk, made 110-152-262 to finish ahead of team-mate Lesila Fiapule by 12kg.

The winner had made a higher total, by 2kg, at the recent Samoa Games, where Opeloge totalled 374kg.

Cyrille Tchatchet had his first significant victory when he took the 96kg category on 155-192-347 for England.

Tchatchet, 28, has competed for Cameroon, the Olympic Refugee Team, Britain and England in a career that began 10 years ago.

Fiji had its first male winner at the Commonwealth Championships since 2007 when Taniela Rainibogi took the 109kg on 163-200-363.

Rainibogi, a bronze medallist at Birmingham 2022, and his team-mates were grateful to the Australian Government.

The Australian High Commission funded Fiji’s trip to India.

Australia, Wales and Canada had winners in, respectively, Essence Hunt on 177kg at 76kg, Niamh Collins on 195kg at 87kg and Wyatt Hunter on 314kg in the men’s 89kg.

Jenly Wini from Solomon Islands topped the women’s individual rankings at the age of 40, with Coffa calling it "an incredible performance".

Wini, who won at 55kg on 83-106-189, will be hoping for a repeat in November when Solomon Islands hosts the Pacific Games, which will be an Olympic qualifier as it doubles up as the Oceania Championships.

Wini was the first ever Commonwealth Games medallist for Solomon Islands when she won bronze at Gold Coast 2018.

The Commonwealth Championships, which attracted 200 lifters from 19 countries, were not a qualifier for the 2026 Commonwealth Games, wherever they may be after Victoria’s withdrawal.

Next year’s all-age Commonwealth Championships in Suva, Fiji, is expected to start the qualifying process 14 months from now.

India won seven of the men’s events and six of the women’s in the junior competition.

The top seven men’s performers on Robi points were all from India, led by Mukund Aher who made 106-133-239 at 55kg, which also gave him a clear victory in the seniors.

Gyaneshwari Yadav’s 78-98-176 at 49kg put her clear at the top of the junior women’s list - where the points scores were considerably higher than Wini’s in the seniors - ahead of her Indian team-mate Boni Mangkhya on 71-103-174 at 55kg.

Malta had two athletes ranked in the top 10, third-placed Tenishia Thornton after her victory on 81-104-186 at 59kg, and ninth-placed Kim Camilleri on 58-76-134 at 45kg.

Camilleri had been on the podium at the European Youths Championships in Moldova only 10 days earlier.

Entries in the Youths were low and three of India’s eight male winners lifted alone, as did two of their eight female winners.

The top individual points scorer was Tomchou Meetei on 98-131-229 at 55kg.

India hosts another major competition, the Asian Youths and Juniors, in nearby Delhi from July 28 to August 5.