Six-time world champion MC Mary Kom (51kg) powered into the Olympic Games' pre-quarterfinals after staving off a stiff challenge from Dominican Republic's Miguelina Hernandez Garcia in the opening round on Sunday.
The 38-year-old, who is a 2012 Olympic bronze-medallist, prevailed 4-1 against a rival who is 15 years her junior and a Pan American Games bronze-medallist.
After holding back in the opening round to get a good measure of her rival, the veteran was aggressive in the final three minutes after Garcia bagged the second round with some fierce punching.
Mary Kom's trusted right hook aided her well through the bout and she also forced Garcia to lunge at her, opening up the space to land clear punches.
Garcia put up a strong fight but was undone by her inability to strike clearly. Mary Kom, a mother of four, will next be up against third-seeded Colombian medallist Ingrit Valencia, who was a bronze-medallist at the 2016 Rio Games.
However, Manish Kaushik, a Commonwealth Games silver-medallist and a world championship bronze-winner, went down 1-4 to Britain's Luke McCormack.
Manish gave a decent account of himself in his clash with McCormack but lost the battle in the final three minutes when the Briton decided to counterattack instead of being on the offensive. The opening round was fought on even keel with Manish giving back as good as he got.
The Indian had the edge in the second round which went to him in a split decision that tied up the scores. However, all five judges ruled in the Briton's favour after his strategy to draw Manish into a close range battle helped him connect his jabs well. Luke is the twin brother of Pat McCormack, a former European and Commonwealth Games champion besides being a world championship silver-medallist in the welterweight (69kg) category.