London Olympics: Sushil Kumar loses final bout, settles for silver

TNN

NEW DELHI,12 Aug 2012: Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar lost his 66kg freestyle final against Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu of Japan 1-3 and settled for silver medal at the London Olympics on Sunday.

 

Sushil became the first Indian to win two individual Olympic medals as he improved on the bronze medal he won at the Beijing Games four years ago.

 

 

The medal soured India’s tally to a record six (2 silver and 4 bronze), doubling the Beijing tally four years ago.

 

Sushil had a tough start to his London 2012 campaign, beating 2008 gold medallist Ramazan Sahin of Turkey 3-1.

 

There are no seedings in Olympic wrestling and the luck of the draw saw Kumar paired against fellow former world champion Sahin in the last 16.

 

In his quarterfinal bout, Sushil overcame Uzbekistan’s Ikhtiyor Navruzov, also by a 3-1 margin, after surviving a spirited rally by his opponent with some quick counters and strong lifts.

 

Sushil came from behind in his last four clash in spectacular style. Having won the first period against Akzhurek Tanatarov of Kazakhstan, Sushil saw his semifinal opponent level and then go 3-0 ahead in the third and final period.

 

But Sushil countered with a hold down initially worth two points, which he converted into a three-point score to tie the match. And with 34 seconds left he’d edged 5-3 in front.

 

Then, with just seconds of the contest remaining, Sushil sealed victory with a huge throw that saw him dump Tanatarov onto the mat.