Athens: India's Sushil Kumar proved too good on the mat for his Bulgarian rival Ivan Djorev and recorded a thumping 9-0 victory, but still bowed out of the Olympic Games 60 kg freestyle wrestling competition in Athens today (Aug 28, 2004).

The Indian, ranked number 4 in the world, lost a chance to advance to the next round when he was upset 0-3 by Pan-American champion Yandro Miguel Quintana of Cuba in his first bout.

The 21-year-old Kumar, who ended 14th, did not let the reverse in the morning bout affect his performance and went on the offensive from the beginning against the Bulgarian. He raked up points at will after the first session leading 2-0 at the break.

On resumption, Kumar scored a point each in the next two minutes before going all-out to chalk up five points in the last minute and register a convincing win.

But the Indian grappler's bid to move into the medal round was already sealed following Quintana's identical 3-0 wins over Kumar and Djorev.

Earlier in the day, Sushil was totally at sea against Quintana who notched up two points in the first minute and gained another one in the next 60 seconds to take firm control of the proceedings.

The Indian got into a defensive mould thereafter and succeeded in not conceding any more points but eventually lost the crucial bout 0-3.

The other Indian on view today, Sujit Mann (74kg), also crashed out and finished 19th in a field of 21 wrestlers without even putting up a semblance of a fight.

Mann, ranked eighth in the world, lost both his bouts to make an early exit. The 25-year-old first lost to Japan's Kuhiniko Obata 0-8 and then went down to Cuban Ivan Fundora 0-6.

The elimination of Kumar and Mann saw the end of India's challenge in wrestling at Athens. Five other grapplers, including one in the Greco-Roman style, had crashed out earlier.