London: India's Sushil Kumar won India its sixth and
final medal of the 2012 London Olympics after settling for silver in the final
of the Men's 66kg Freestyle Wrestling event on Sunday. But Sushil has created
history by becoming the first Indian to win two individual Olympic medals.
Sushil, who reached the final after defeating Akzhurek
Tanatarov of Kazakhstan in the semi-finals, was beaten by Japan's Tatsuhiro
Yonemitsu 3-1 in a short and swift final bout at the ExCel Arena.
The Japanase took the first period 1-0 and midway through
the second clinched gold by virtue of a strong throw that sent Sushil to the
mat.
Sushil, a bronze medallist in 2008 at Beijing, fought
bravely after vomiting and suffering dehydration following his semi-final
victory but ended up on the losing side against his strong Japanese rival at
the ExCel Arena.
The final was held inside three hours after his
semi-final victory over Kazakhstan's Tanatarov. And to add to the 29-year-old
Indian fighter's woes he had picked up a neck injury too that hampered his
progress against Guangzhou Asian Games champion Yonemitsu.
Earlier, the 29-year-old Indian demolished Tanatrov of
Kazakhstan 3-1 in an engrossing semi-final contest to achieve the memorable
feat and provide a late spark to India's Olympic campaign.
Sushil, the flag-bearer of the Indian contingent here,
kept his reputation intact with a stunning display of skill, stamina and power
as he wriggled out of some difficult positions to fashion victories.
Backed by vociferous Indian spectators, Sushil wrapped up
the first period 3-0 in the high-voltage semi-final clash against Tanatrov but
lost the second by an identical score.
In the crucial third round, the Indian was lagging 0-3
behind but he showed his class and strength to fightback and level the score
after pegging him down by his legs with the vociferous Indian contingent egging
him on.
With 34 seconds left, the Indian scored two more points
to move to 5-3 and then, with just seconds left in the contest, he sealed his
victory by lifting his rival on to his shoulders and throwing him down on the
mat to win the third period 6-3 to enter the finals.
Before that, Sushil disposed of defending champion
Ramazan Sahin of Turkey in the Round of 16 and then prevailed over Uzbekistan's
Ikhtiyor Naruzov 3-1 in the quarter-final.
The Indian appeared a little rusty in the first period of
his bout against Sahin in the pre-quarter finals but found his mojo to tilt the
scale in his favour from the second onwards.
Sushil lost the first period 0-2 and then took advantage
of the click to scrape past in the second round with a 1-0 scoreline. He played
it safe in the third round and did not take too many risks but managed to get
one point to get the better of the Beijing Olympic gold medallist.
In the quarter final, Sushil showed his aggressive
instincts a little more as he tried to rattle the Uzbek opponent by trying out
different grips.
The Indian wrestler bagged the first period quite
comfortably with a 3-1 margin but conceded two points late in the second to
lose 1-2.
With scores tied at 1-1, Sushil went for an all out
attack and relied on his experience to secure two points and romp into the
semi-finals much to the delight of the hordes of flag-waving Indian spectators
who cheered him lustily.
Apart from Sushil's silver, India bagged one silver and
four bronze medals in the 30th edition of the Games, surpassing the one gold
and two bronze medals they won in Beijing four years ago.
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