Action began with the men's classification rounds, but all of the competition's top 10 seeds were handed byes through to the round of 64 at the Centro de Alto Rendimiento.

Buzzi, who was part of the Italian team that took silver at last year's European Fencing Championships, was not one of those to be handed safe passage but he defeated Adam Rodney of the United States 15-12 to progress.

The 23-year-old will now face Rio 2016 gold medallist Park Sang-Young of South Korea in the round of 64.

Venezuela’s Ruben Limardo, the Olympic champion from London 2012, awaits Edoardo Munzone in the next round after the Italian thrashed Alexander Tsinis of the US 15-6. 

Another American, Benjamin Bratton, was the highest seed not to be given a bye.

Ranked 13th, Bratton secured his place in the next stage of the event when he beat Arthur Pinilla of Colombia 15-9.

Japan's Koki Kano delivered the strongest performance of the day as he eased to a sublime 15-2 victory against Michael Lozano of Colombia.

Switzerland's Bernardo Delarue-Bizzin also made it through to the round of 64.

He overcame Daniel Felipe Macias Gonzalez of Colombia 15-4.

Tomorrow (May 27), the women will battle in their classification rounds.

The following day, the last 64 in both sections will step onto the piste to work their way down to the finals.