Vikas Krishan Yadav will be looking to build on the foundation that he set in his dominating win over USA’s Charles Conwell in the middleweight (75 kg) preliminary encounter as he prepares to face Turkey’s Sipal Onder in the pre-quarterfinals on Saturday morning at the Riocentro Pavillion at the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics.
Vikas was in commanding form as he posted a confident 3-0 win over Conwell, constantly asking questions of the American boxer and opening up his opponent’s defence with alacrity. Most importantly, Vikas was prepared to dig in, take a few punches and then land clean hits on the counter, a tactic that seemed to faze his first round opponent.
Turkey’s Onder comes into the bout on the back of a scratchy opening victory over Zambia’s Benny Muziyo. The Turk progressed on a split-decision verdict, doing enough against the lanky Zambian in the third round to take the result. While the 29-year-old has fought in the AIBA Pro Boxing (APB) series, he does not have a very enviable record to speak of. A two-time Mediterranean Games medallist, Onder had also won Gold at the 2010 World University Boxing Championship, albeit in a lower weight class.
Vikas said that his win over Conwell had given him enough confidence and also generated a fair amount of momentum. “Even though I took the fight 3-0, it was by no means an easy outing. Conwell was a fast and a sharp boxer. It was a good way to start the Olympics as I was put through a good bout and that is always the way I prefer to start off big tournaments,” he said.
The 2014 Asian Games Bronze medallist and India’s youngest World Championship medallist said that he would target a strong opening to the bout against his Turkish opponent and build on it. “Everyone is going to throw punches right from the get-go. It is important to not be too defensive but also crucial that while attacking not get carried away. I think I was in good rhythm in my last bout. I made the right moves, kept my defence tight and I would like to do more of the same tonight,” he said.
The bout begins at 3.30 am IST and will be telecast on the Star Sports network.
