It turned out to be a largely disappointing day for Indian boxers at the Asian Games with former World Championship bronze-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) being the only one to advance, making the quarter-final, while three others fell by the wayside.
Gaurav Bhiduri (52kg), Mandeep Jangra (69kg) and Kuldeep Singh (81kg) bowed out after losing their respective quarter-final bouts.
Vikas was the first Indian boxer to take the ring and he advanced to the quarter-finals after a comfortable win over Kanybek Uulu Azamat of Kyrgyzstan.
The former World Championship bronze-medallist was on the top of his defensive game against Azamat.
Vikas is making his debut in the middleweight category after injury forced first choice and defending gold-medallist Vijender Singh to give the Games a miss.
The Haryana-lad relied on his tried and tested technique of counter-attack. He waited for his rival to drop the guard and then knocked him back with incisive jabs.
With a shell guard which rarely gave Azamat any chance of landing a clear punch, Vikas impressed with his foot movement and his ring craft was duly appreciated by judges, who declared him an unanimous 3-0 winner.
Vikas will face Normatov Hurshidbek of Uzbekistan in the quarter-final.
However, Asian Championships silver-medallist Mandeep and rookie Gaurav Bhiduri fell by the wayside in the last eight stage losing their respective bouts 0-3.
While Mandeep lost to Thailand's Saensit Apichet, Bhiduri was beaten by Uzbekistan's Zoirov Shakhobidin. Mandeep faced two knockdown counts during the bout.
Later, Kuldeep, a national champion, went down to Iran's Rouzbahani Ehsan 0-3 to end a poor day for the country's male boxers.
In sharp contrast, all the three women in fray -- M C Mary Kom (51kg), L Sarita Devi (60kg) and Pooja Rani (75kg) -- have assured themselves of medals by advancing to the semi-finals.
