Assam's prolific boxer and national champion Shiva Thapa started his campaign at the 2021 AIBA World Boxing Championships with a befitting win on Tuesday.
The bronze medal winner of the 2015 edition defeated Kenya's Victor Nyadera in the 63.5kg round-of-64 match.
The five-time Asian Championships medallist Thapa will now take on Sierra Leone's John Brown in the Last-32 clash on Saturday.
Later tonight, three more Indians will be seen in action in their respective opening-round matches. While Narender (+92kg) will fight against Poland's Oskar Safaryan, Sumit (75kg) will take on Damon O'Neill of Jamaica.
On the other hand, Deepak Bhoria (51kg) will have a comparatively difficult challenge in his opening round match as he will start off against two-time Asian champion Azat Usenaliev of Kyrgyzstan.
A 13-member Indian contingent has been competing at the 21st edition of the tournament which will go on till November 6.
With the participation of 650 top boxers from more than 100 countries, the championship is being played in 13 weight categories as per AIBA's newly introduced weight divisions.