India’s Vikas Krishan out-punched American Charles Conwall to win his middleweight (75kg) preliminary bout 3-0 to begin India's boxing campaign on a high at the Rio Olympics on Tuesday.
The 24-year-old Vikas won by a unanimous decision with a of score of 29-28, 29-28 and 29-28 in the three rounds and advanced to the round of 16.
He will take on Turkey's Onder Sipal in the next round.
The 18-year-old Conwell, who walked in to hostile boos from the local crowd, struggled to launch an attack on the Indian in the opening round. Vikas, on the other hand, used his right straights and uppercuts to good effect in the first three minutes.
Vikas dropped his guard early in the bout but Conwell's attempts at capitalising on it did not quite work out, as he landed into a well-laid trap by the counter-attacking Indian.
Vikas was more assured in the second round and concentrated on breaking down Conwell's defence by targeting his torso.
Vikas had done enough to secure himself the handy lead going into the final round.
After being seemingly clueless and fetching two cautions for bending excessively in the first two rounds, Conwell gathered himself in the final three minutes to land a couple of crisp jabs but the effort came too late in the day.
The final round ended up being tied between the two boxers but Vikas emerged triumphant on the back of his strong showing in the first two rounds.
Vikas lost in pre quarter-finals stage at the 2012 London Olympics and will look to go deep into the competition in Rio.
On Wednesday, former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist Manoj Kumar will open his campaign against Lithuania's Evaldas Petrauskas.
