Vikas Krishan thrashes Mamataly, advances to quarter-finals of Asian Olympic Qualifiers

Indian boxer Vikas Krishan displayed a brilliant performance as he began his campaign at the Asian/Oceanian Olympic Qualifiers with a 5-0 victory against Kyrgyzstan's Nursultan Mamataly here on Friday.

With this victory, Krishan has advanced to the quarter-finals, where he will meet the third seed Quincy Mensah Sewonrets Okazawa of Japan. Also, the Commonwealth Games gold medallist, Krishan, is just one win away from securing a spot in the Tokyo Olympics.

Mary Kom and Amit Panghal will begin their quest on Saturday while Gaurav Solanki (57kg) will meet the top seed and world champion Mirazizbek Mirzakhalilov of Uzbekistan in the second round.

The six-time world champion, Kom, will take on New Zealand's Tasmyn Benny in the first round and just two wins will take her to Tokyo.

"Mary knows that this is her last Olympics and wants to do her best to close her dream with a medal. She has worked hard especially the reactivity work on the legs as well and has been working hard to be in good shape," said Foreign Coach for Indian women's boxing, Raffaele Bergamasco, in a statement.

Panghal will start off his campaign against Mongolia's Enkhmanadakh Kharkhuu after a first-round bye as the top seed in his category.

"Amit boxed against him before in Asian Games and beat him one-sided. And in the World Military Games, Amit lost by 5:0 to the same guy. Our plan is to create surprises in every round and am sure Amit would like to even scores as he faces his opponent tomorrow," said CA Kuttappa, India's head boxing coach.