China's light heavyweight Lei Yuping beat his Cameroonian opponent 24-16 on points to score the first win for the Chinese boxers at the 2004 Athens Olympiad Saturday.

The 25-year-old Lei looked a bit tense in the first round of the bout to trail 4-2 behind Pierre Celestin Yana of Cameroon at the first break. However, with faster paces and attacks, Lei reversed the situation on the arena and scored 10-3 in the second round. He further expanded his lead in the next two rounds and won by a convincing 8-point margin.

Lei, now in the last 16 of the 81 kg category, will meet Ukraine's Andriy Fedchuk, who beat Jitender Kumar of India on Saturday, in the next round scheduled for August 19.

"I feel quite satisfied with Lei's performance this evening," said Li Qingsheng, head coach of the Chinese boxing team. "However, he was so nervous in the first round that he couldn't show his real capabilities."

"It's very important for our boxers to maintain a good mentality during the fight," he added.

He also noted that the Ukrainian boxer Lei would meet in the next round "was a very strong opponent" as he had won a bronze medal in Sydney 2000.

A native of east China's Jiangsu Province, Lei was the silver medalist at the 2004 Asian boxing championships.

Lei was the second Chinese boxer to compete on the Athens Olympic arena in the Peristeri Olympic Boxing Hall here. His teammate, middle weight Hada Bateer lost to American Andre Dirrell 18-25 on points in one of the opening bouts of the Olympic boxing Saturday afternoon.

The best ever Olympic result for the Chinese boxers was a fifth in the 91 kg category at Atlanta 1996.

Source: Xinhua