Tough draw for Indian boxers

Shiva Thapa (56kg), Manoj Kumar (64kg) and Vikas Krishan (75kg) make for the Indian challenge in the mega-event, a sharp fall from the eight who made it to the 2012 Games in London. Of the three, Vikas is the only one to get a seeding — 7th — but none of them managed to secure a firstround bye. Vikas, a former Asian games gold-medallist and World Championships bronze-medallist, will be up against 18-year-old American Charles Conwell in his opening bout on August 9. 

Another strong medal hope for the country, Shiva, will square off against sixth seed Robeisy Ram rez of Cuba on August 11. Ramirez was the flyweight Olympic champion in 2012. Ramirez and Shiva, who is also a World Championships bronze-medallist, go back a long way as they had faced each other in the 2010 Youth Olympics final in which the Cuban had emerged triumphant. Manoj, a former Commonwealth Games gold-medallist, will open his campaign on August 10 against Lithuania’s Evaldas Petrauskas.