Sushil Kumar repeats history, wins Bronze for India

Beijing, Aug 20 (UNI) India's Sushil Kumar rewrote history as he defeated Kazakhstan's Leonid Spiridonov in the 66kg category of the Olympic freestyle wrestling competition to clinch the bronze medal here today.

Fifty-six years ago at the Helsinki Olympics, India won its only medal in wrestling when K D Yadav created history by winning the bronze medal in the same discipline.

The Indian began on a promising note as he looked formidable to outclass the Kazakh from the word go. Sushil took the lead as he outmaneuvered his rival to take the first round 2-1.

In the second round, Spiridonov did manage to make a come back and won it 1-0.

However, Sushil, who lost to Ukraine's Andry Stadnik in the pre-quarter finals in morning, finally overcame the Kazakh in the third round as Spiridonov found it difficult to wriggle out the Indian's strong stranglehold.

With a 1-0 win in the third round, Sushil gave India its second medal at the Olympics here and won the match 3-1.

The Indian and the Kazakh had lost to the two finalists and were fighting it out for that one bronze medal that eventually went to Sushil's pocket.

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