India’s campaign at the World Boxing Championships in Chicago got off to a disappointing start with S Suresh Singh crashing out in the opening round of the bantamweight category.

Suresh, the reigning National champion, was beaten 9-4 by Hungarian David Oltvanyi on the opening day of the meet, which is also the first qualifying event for next year’s Beijing Olympics.

Making the quarterfinals of the showpiece event would be enough to earn an Olympic qualification.   
The Indians, who are also competing in seven other categories, are up against a formidable field in the biggest ever championship, which has over 120 countries and 700 boxers.

One of the best bets for India would be Commonwealth Games silver medallist and Doha Asian Games bronze winner Vijender. But the Arjuna awardee middleweight pugilist has a challenging task at hand as he bids to book a Beijing berth.

The 21-year-old takes on Romanian Ronald Gavril in the opening round on Wednesday and will have to slug it out in two more rounds to reach the quarters.

The only other Indian who will take the ring on Wednesday isA L Lakra (57kg). The Commonwealth champion will be up against Korean Min-Jae Ju.

The five remaining Indians will be in action on Thursday. In the light flyweight category, Balbir Singh will take on Kazakhstan’s Birzham Zhakypov, while Jitender Kumar (51kg) will square off against Moldova’s Igori Samoilenco.
In the lightweight category, Jai Bhagwan will open his campaign against Bahrain’s Valertino Knowles.
The best boxer at this year’s National Championship, Dilbag Singh, will face Lithuania’s Roman Skerlo in the welterweight category, while Delhi lad Jasveer Singh will start against China’s Xiaoping Zhang in the light heavyweight category.

Earlier, the championship opened with a grand ceremony, which had legendary Olympic champion Muhammad Ali as a surprise guest.