India’s Greco-Roman wrestler Sunil Kumar was left to fight for a bronze medal after losing his men’s 87kg semifinal by technical superiority to Japan’s Taizo Yoshida, while Nisha Dahiya was yet again shut out by North Korea’s Sol Gum Pak in Nagoya on Wednesday.

Sunil, the bronze medal winner at the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023, began with a confident technical superiority win over Tajikistan’s Muhammad Sultonzoda but was no match for the Japanese World Championship bronze medallist.

Against Sultonzoda, the Indian finished the job in a jiffy after his rival was put in a ‘par terre’ position for being defensive. Sunil made full use of the advantageous ground position to employ consecutive gut-wrench moves.

In the last-four bout, Yoshida led 6-0 after the first period and added five more points to move into the gold medal match, without giving Sunil a single scoring opportunity.

The Indian will now fight it out with the Philippines’ Roberts Callum Johnston in the bronze play-off.

In the women’s 68kg event, Nisha lost to North Korea’s Pak in the round of 16.

Nisha had moved ahead 2-0, but Pak executed a four-pointer to end the first period with a 4-2 lead.

In the second period, Nisha got a two-pointer to level the match. No wrestler could score a point after that, and Pak was declared the winner on criteria for scoring the bigger move. If Pak reaches the final, it will open a repechage route for Nisha.

Incidentally, Nisha had also lost to Pak in the quarterfinals of the Paris Olympics after suffering an injury. Nisha was leading 8-2 in that bout but left the mat in tears due to an elbow injury as she lost 8-10.