India's star wrestler Sushil Kumar loses in the final of men's 66kg freestyle category to Japan's Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu at the London Olympics
Sushil, bronze medallist in Beijing four years ago, lost 1-4 to the Japanese wrestler and had to settle for silver at the ExCel Arena.
However, the Indian grappler has created history by becoming the first Indian to win back-to-back individual Olympic medals.
Silver medallist India's Sushil Kumar with gold medallist Japan's Tatsuhiro Yonemitsu and bronze medallists Kazakhstan's Akzhurek Tanatarov and Cuba's Livan Lopez Azcuy pose on the podium.u00a0u00a0Photo: AFP
Earlier Sushil defeated edged out Kazakhstan's Akzhurek Tanatarov 9-6 in a thrilling semifinal.u00a0Tanatarov seemed the likely winner in the third and final period before Sushil fought back through grit and experience.u00a0
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With the Kazakh leading 3-0, Sushil came up with brilliant moves to leave Tanatarov reeling on the mat. The contest ended with the Indian winning the period 6-3 and his opponent bleeding from the right ear.
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Sushil had won the first period 3-0 and Kazakh levelled the fight in the second.u00a0
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Earlier, the 2010 World Champion muscled his way into the last four beating Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan 3-1.
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The Indian could have wrapped up the fight in period 2 but Navruzov turned the tables on him with six seconds remaining.u00a0
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Sushil got the measure of his opponent in period 3, winning it 2-0 to seal the contest.
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The 29-year-old started the day in a scintillating fashion, dismissing the Beijing gold medallist, Ramazan Sahin, in the opening round.u00a0
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Kumar won the bout against Sahin by 3-1u00a0
