IANS
Rio de Janeiro, August 10: Vikas Krishan gave India’s boxing campaign a rousing start with a dominant victory at the ongoing Rio Olympics over Charles Conwell of the US in the men’ middleweight (75kg) category at the Riocentrio Pavilion here.
The Indian outpunched the 18-year-old American by a unanimous decision in the round of 32 bout with all three judges ruling 29-28, 29-28, 29-28 in favour of the Haryana boxer here Tuesday. He will now face Onder Sipal of Turkey in the pre-quarterfinals.
Vikas, the former Asian Games champion from Hisar district of Haryana was by far the superior boxer through all the three rounds and hardly broke sweat against the young Conwell who was appearing in his maiden Olympics.
“The strategy was to win the first two rounds. My opponent was younger, more powerful and had more strength. But I banked on my experience,” Vikas said after the bout. “I had never seen him fight before so wanted to observe him in the first minute. Then I tried to dominate.”
Vikas dominated the opening round with powerful shots to the body and a couple to the face as well. The American kept his head low and absorbed the Indian’s punches as most of Vikas’ attempted punches to the face landed on top of his head.
Vikas displayed superior footwork and defence which coupled with his height advantage ensured that most of Conwell’s attempted jabs to the face could only brush the top of his head.
