Andrade survives in opening round

emetrius Andrade avoided a disappointing exit Sunday.

The American gold-medal favorite in the welterweight division, Andrade held on for an 11-9 victory over Georgia’s Kakhaber Jvania in the opening round.

Andrade held just a 2-0 lead after the first round and could never pull away, maintaining a 10-6 lead after three rounds.

“It was pretty good for my first fight but I was a little rusty,” Andrade said.

Jvania won the fourth round but not by enough points as Andrade moves on to the round of 16 where he will face Russian Andrey Balanov.

“I always pick it up,” Andrade said. “The third and fourth rounds are my rounds. I’m just going to pick it up so you better watch out.”

A native of Providence, Rhode Island, Andrade won the gold medal at the 2007 World Championships.

China’s Silamu Hanati put on an impressive performance in front of the home crowd, dominating Zambia’s Precious Makina, 21-4, in other welterweight action on Sunday.

Hanati jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first round and seemingly scored at will, wobbling Makina with combinations. The 23-year-old Hanati also outscored Makina, 13-1, over the final two rounds.

Other welterweight winners advancing to the round of 16 included, Great Britain’s Billy Joe Saunders, the Bahamas’ Toureano Johnson, Cameroon’s Joseph Mulema, Olexandr Strets’kyy of the Ukraine, Kazakhstan’s Bakhyt Sarsekbayev, Vitalie Grusac of Moldova, France’s Jaoid Chiguer, John Jackson of the Virgin Islands, and South Korea’s Jungjoo Kim.

United States light welterweight Javier Molina could not make it a perfect day for the Americans as he fell, 14-1, to Boris Georgiev of Bulgaria.

Georgiev, who won the bronze at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first round and cruised throughout the rest of the bout.

Other light welterweight winners Sunday were Russia’s Gennady Kovalev, Mauritius’ Richarno Colin, Driss Moussaid of Morocco, Roniel Iglesias Sotolongo of Cuba, Ireland’s Johnny Joyce, Felix Diaz of the Dominican Republic, Iran’s Morteza Sepahvandi, Romania’s Ionut Gheorghe, Munkh-Erdene Uranchimeg of Mongolia, Great Britain’s Bradley Saunders, France’s Alexis Vastine.