Nur-Sultan (Kazakhastan), September 20: Star Indian grappler Sushil Kumar lost his first-round bout against Azerbaijan's Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev 9-11 in the 74-kg freestyle category at the ongoing World Wrestling Championships here on Friday. In the opening period, Sushil managed to send Gadzhiyev off the mat and took a lead of 8-2. However, Gadzhiyev fought back to cut Sushil's lead to 9-6. Gadzhiyev then made a fine comeback and managed to push Sushil off the mat to take a 10-8 lead and then won a bonus point to emerge victorious with a scoreline of 11-9. Yogeshwar Dutt Slams Poor Umpiring Post Bajrang Punia’s Controversial Loss in World Wrestling Championships 2019.

Earlier, Karan Mor and Sumit Malik also failed to advance as they lost their respective first-round bouts in 70 kg and 125 kg category, respectively. While Karan lost 0-7 to Ikhtiyor Navruzov of Uzbekistan, Sumit, the reigning Commonwealth Games gold medallist, lost 0-2 to two-time European Championships medallist Daniel Ligeti of Hungary.

Parveen Rana was the only Indian to advance to the second round as he defeated Korea's Sue Changjae 12-1 in the 92 kg category. Sushil, Karan and Sumit can now book Olympic berths only if the winners of their first-round clashes reach the final in their respective categories. They will then get a shot in the repechage round.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 20, 2019 01:33 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).