The opponents of the Indian boxers in Rio Olympics 2016 have been revealed following a draw on Friday and one thing is for certain that the likes of Shiva Thapa, Vikas Krishan and Manoj Kumar won't have it easy at all. Only three athletes from India have made it to the Olympics this time around and the big names of Vijender Singh and Mary Kom are not a part of it.
Shiva, 22, the first Indian boxer to qualify for the event, takes on a super tough opponent in Robeisy Ramirez of Cuba in the first round of Rio 2016 boxing on Aug. 9. Ramirez, 22, had won the gold medal in the London Olympics 2012 in the flyweight boxing category.
The duo had squared off in the Youth Olympics 2010 final, where the Cuban reigned supreme over the Indian boxer, the youngest ever pugilist to represent the country in the Olympics.
Middleweight fighter Vikas, meanwhile, will take on 18-year-old American boxer Charles Conwell in his opening bout on Aug. 10. 24-year-old Vikas, gold medallist at the Asian Youth Boxing Championships in 2010, is coming into the Olympics at the back of some impressive results and he is expected to progress to the second round rather comfortably.
Manoj Kumar, meanwhile, will be up against Lithuania's Evaldas Petrauskas, a former bronze medallist in the 2012 London Olympics in the lightweight boxing category, on Aug. 10. The 24-year-old Petrauskas is also a gold medallist at the Youth Olympics 2010 and will not pose an easy challenge at all to the Indian boxer.
The boxing matches will take place at the Riocentro Pavilion 6 in Barra da Tijuca. Here is the full profile of the Indian boxers for Rio 2016.
