India's Vikas Krishan remains a medal contender for the country from boxing. The middleweight fighter, who earned a rather comfortable win over America's Charles Conwell in the previous round, will be looking for an emphatic statement in the pre-quarters on Friday.
Vikas, 24, goes into a crunch fight against Turkey's Onder Sipal in the round of 16 at the Rio Centro Pavilion 6 in the evening.
The Haryana pugilist, a silver medallist at the Asian Boxing Championships 2015, will not be expected to have too much of a trouble however. Vikas did well with his crosses and jabs in the previous round, but one thing he needs to remain wary of is his guard, which he lowers quite a few times in the fight.
Sipal, 29, meanwhile, earned a close-fought win over Benny Muziyo of Zambia in the last round. The pugilist from Fenerbahce won a gold medal in the welterweight division at the 2010 World University Boxing Championships in Mongolia.
From India, apart from Vikas, only Manoj Kumar remains the other boxer in the Rio Olympics 2016. Medal hope Shiva Thapa exited in the first round itself on Thursday after he couldn't cope with the challenge from defending champion Robeisy Ramirez of Cuba in the men's bantamweight 56kg competition.
For now, if Vikas does manage to get past Sipal, he will face the toughest battle of the Olympics so far in the quarterfinals, where he could face 20-year-old Bektemir Melikuziev. The Uzbek boxer won a silver medal at the 2015 World championships and has also beaten the Indian in the final of the 2015 Asian Championships.
Men's 75kg boxing pre-quarters: Vikas Krishan vs Onder Sipal is scheduled for a 3:30 a.m. IST [Saturday] (6 p.m. EST, 11 p.m. BST) start on Aug. 12.
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.
