Eight years back, Vijender Singh -- bronze medallist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics -- gave India her first ever medal in boxing in the mega sporting quadrennial event. The amateur-turned-pro boxer won the bronze in the middleweight division, the same weight category (75 kg) in which India's Vikas Krishan Yadav will fight at the Rio Olympics 2016.
The 24-year-old pugilist from Bhiwani will open his campaign in the event on Tuesday as he gets set to take on America's Charles Conwell in the opening bout at the Rio-Centro Pavilion.
Vikas, seeded seventh in the middleweight draw in the Rio games, has received a rather comfortable first round challenge as compared to the other Indian boxers in Rio 2016 -- Shiva Thapa and Manoj Kumar.
The Asian Boxing Championships 2015 silver medallist, who couldn't make much of a mark in the 2012 London Olympics, is expected to get a win over Conwell, who is 18 years old and is appearing in his first Olympics.
Incidentally, it was an American who knocked Vikas out of the Olympics four years back and the Indian is expected to have nothing but redemption in his mind as he looks ahead to the opening bout of Rio 2016 Olympics.
Rio 2016 boxing: Vikas Krishan vs Charles Conwell is scheduled for a 2:30 a.m. IST (Wednesday) [10 p.m. BST, 5 p.m. EST] start on Aug. 9.
Where to watch live
India: TV: Star Sports Network, DD National. Live streaming: Hotstar.
UK: TV: BBC One, BBC Two, BBC Four. Live streaming: BBC Red Button.
USA: TV: NBC Sports. Live streaming: NBC Olympics.
