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 wrestler’s next casualty was Jabrayil Hasanov of Azerbaijan, whom he defeated on the basis of technical points to reach the semifinals.
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.
Meanwhile, India’s 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.
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.