Sushil Kumar crashes out of Asian Games

Indian wrestler Sushil Kumar, who was relying on repechage system after suffering a shocking first-round loss, has been eliminated from the ongoing 18th edition of the Asian Games.

The result came after Adam Batirov of Bahrain, the opponent who beat Kumar in the opening round, lost his quarter-final clash in men's 74 kg freestyle category.

The repechage system works as a wild card for the participants, who fail to make through the initial rounds of the competition. But now that the Bahrain wrestler lost in the quarters stage, Kumar is left with no further scope to go ahead in the tournament.

Earlier, two-time Olympic medallist Kumar slumped to a shocking 3-5 defeat at the hands of Batirov, thus ruling himself out of the race for the gold medal.

Meanwhile, Indian wrestlers Mausam Khatri and Pawan Kumar lost their respective quarter-final encounters in the ongoing event. While Khatri lost 0-8 to Uzbekistan's Magomed Ibragimov in men's 97 kg category, Kumar suffered an embarrassing 0-11 defeat against Hassan Yazdanicharati of Iran in men's 86 kg freestyle wrestling.

Asian Games, which began on August 18, will continue till September 2 in the Indonesian cities of Palembang and Jakarta.