India's boxing campaign at Rio Olympics kicked off on a positive note as boxer Vikas Krishan stormed into the pre-quarterfinals of the men's middleweight (75 kg) bout after knocking down USA's Charles Conwel 3-0 here on Wednesday.
The 24-year-old, who hails from Haryana's Hisar district, outclassed 18-year-old debutant Conwell 30-27, 29-28, 28-29 in three rounds of the thrilling preliminary bout.
Krishan, the first of three Indian boxers, seems to have taken the revenge of his 2012 London Games defeat, when he lost to another American Errol Spence in the quarter-finals.
The 2014 Asian Games Bronze medallist will now return in action on Saturday when he takes on Turkey's
Onder Sipal in the round of 16.
Meanwhile. Indian team's senior most boxer Manoj Kumar (64kg), the other athlete in fray, will be in action against Lithuania's former lightweight Olympic bronze-medallist Evaldas Petrauskas on later today.
The squad's youngest Shiva Thapa (56kg), a World Championships bronze-medallist, will square off against Cuba's Robeisy Ramirez.