Asian silver-medallist Vikas Krishan (75kg) and Shiva Thapa (56kg) notched up comprehensive victories to enter the pre-quarters as Indian boxers made a good start at the World Championships here on Tuesday.
Shiva, a former Asian champion, started the proceedings on a perfect note for the country as he outpunched Algeria’s Khalil litim 3-0.
The 23-year-old will next face Morocco’s Mohamed Hamout, who got a first-round bye.
later, Vikas also sailed past Hungary’s Zoltan Harcsa 3-0 to make the last-16 stage. Vikas has a very tough bout next up as he will be up against fourth-seeded Tomasz Jablonski, a European Championships silver-medallist.
Vikas had won a bronze medal at the 2011 edition of the event — only the second Indian to do so after Vijender Singh. The Haryana-lad dominated his bout against an immensely jittery rival and won by a unanimous decision.
However, it was curtains for Manoj Kumar (64kg) in the very first round as he was stunned 1-2 to Moroccon Abdelhak Aatakni. The former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist was surprisingly rusty in the opening round and the loss of momentum cost him dearly.