Sushil Kumar loses first wrestling bout in four years at Tbilisi Grand Prix

Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar lost his first bout in more than four years while competing at Tbilisi Grand Prix in Georgia even as his compatriots Bajrang Punia and Deepak Punia progressed to the quarter-finals.

Sushil lost 4-8 to Polish grappler Andrzej Piotr Sokalski in the 74 kg category. It’s not an ideal result for Sushil in the build up to the Asian Games. The WFI had exempted him from trials, held last month.

The 35-year-old was handed exemption, give his past result and form as he had won his third CWG gold in Gold Coast.

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Before today’s defeat, Sushil had lost a bout way back in May 2014 in Sassari (Italy) where he lost to Luca Lampis of France.

Sushil was re-admitted to the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) after a gap of two years last month.

In the 65kg freestyle, Bajrang defeated Ukraine’s Gor Ogannesyan to set up a quarterfinal clash with Iran’s Yones Aliakbar Emamichoghaei.

Deepak outwitted Georgy Rubaev of Moldova in the round of 1/8 and will face local hope Saba Chikhradze in the 86kg quarterfinals.