Sushil misses out on bronze

Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar failed to replicate boxer Vijender Singhs feat and lost out on a medal opportunity in the...

Olympic bronze medallist Sushil Kumar failed to replicate boxer Vijender Singhs feat and lost out on a medal opportunity in the World Wrestling Championships after losing the bronze medal play-off in the 66kg freestyle category in Herning,Denmark on Monday night.

Sushil was no match for his Japanese opponent Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu,losing 0-5 in the repechage. Earlier,Sushil,who got a opening round bye,beat Pietro Piscitelli of Italy 7-0 in the second round and then went on to stun top-ranked Stefan Daniliuc of Romania 5-2 in the pre-quarterfinals.

The diminutive Delhi wrestlers next casualty was Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan,whom he defeated on the basis of technical points to reach the semi-finals.

Sushil,who won the German Grand Prix this year,however lost to 13th ranked Russian Rasul Djukaev 2-8 in the last four stage,thereby ending his chances of bagging a gold. Soon after Vijender won a bronze at the World Boxing Championships,Sushil had stated that he wanted to better the Bhiwani boxers triumph.

Indias other wrestlers didnt fare much better,as Balraj Singh was humiliated 1-10 by Hyo-Sub Kim of Korea in the first round of the 55-kg freestyle category,while Anil Kumar Mann bowed out in the second round of the 96kg division,losing 2-3 to Saleh Moustafa Saelh of Egypt in a close encounter.

Mann had earlier defeated Chinese Jiayu Gao 3-0 in the opening round. There was further bad news for India in the freestyle category as Joginder Kumar lost 2-6 to Bartlomiej Bartnicki of Poland in the first round.