Sushil settles for silver in London

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Sushil Kumar lost his 66kg freestyle wrestling final bout to Japan's Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu but won India a silver medal, their sixth in the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Nevertheless, the Indian wrestler recorded his name in sports history annals of the country by becoming the first ever sportsperson to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals, having won a bronze at the 2008 Beijing Games.

It was India's third wrestling medal in Olympic history with K D Jadhav (1952) and Yogeshwar Dutt (2012) being the previous winners.

With Sushil's silver, India ended its London Games campaign with six medals -- its best ever show at the biggest sports extravaganza.

Wrestling and shooting provided India two medals each, while women boxing and badminton added one medal each.

India had hoped to add a gold to its kitty when Sushil Kumar reached the final but his Japanese rival, an Asian Games champion, prevailed with his stout defence.
Sushil trailed 0-1 after the first round and was out of the contest within 30 seconds of the second round when Yonemitsu penetrated his defence, lifted him up and banged him to fetch decisive three points lead.

Sushil had made a stunning comeback in the semifinal but could not repeat that in the final, although he reduced the margin by getting one point.

Earlier, the pin-up boy of Indian wrestling fought the best bout of his life as he came from behind to beat Tantarov 3-1 in the semi-final.

Sushil first used the Iranian technique to get over his opponent and then rolled him over for two points. A head butt by Tantarov assured him another point.

The second round undoubtedly belonged to the 25-year-old Kazakh wrestler as he put Sushil on the mat and tossed him over to get 3-0 clincher.

When the third round started, the 29-year-old Indian looked tired and jaded as within the first seconds, conceded a 3-0 lead to the Kazakh. The match looked as good as over for Sushil who waited for that one inspirational moment as he caught Tantarov by his leg and pegged him down to make it 3-3 with the vociferous Indian contingent egging him on.

This was followed by a Hercules-like act as he suddenly stood up with the Kazakh hanging on his shoulders. It probably was the defining moment for the Indian contingent's challenge at the biggest sporting spectacle. An Indian's show of strength at the world stage.

Sushil Kumar can take a bow as he will now be considered at par with legendary hockey players Dhyan Chand and Balbir Singh Sr although theirs was a team sport and were part of back-to-back gold medal winning teams.