Asian Games gold-medallist Vikas Krishan (69kg) notched up a comfortable win but the Indian boxing team also had its first moment of disappointment at the World Championships as Paramjeet Samota (+91kg) crashed out with an opening-round loss in Baku, Azerbaijan today.
Vikas, the lightweight (60kg) gold-medallist at the Asian Games last year, made his welterweight debut in style beating Kyrgyzstan's Asadullo Boimurodov 16-8.
But Samota, an Asian Games silver-medallist and a Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, could not end the day on a high for the Indian camp going down 12-14 in a thrilling contest against Vitalijus Subacius of Lithuania.
Vikas now faces seventh seed Mohamed Nurudzinau of Belarus on October 2 in his second round bout. Nurudzinau, a silver-medallist at this year's European Confederation Boxing championships, defeated Albania's Astmer Bilali 16-7 in his opening bout.
The 19-year-old Vikas, who is also a reigning national champion, led 8-3 in the opening three minutes and his domination only increased and despite Boimurodov fighting back in the third round, it was too late.
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