Sushil Kumar gave India it's second medal at the Beijing Olympics as he won the bronze in the Men's Freestyle 66kg against Leonid Spiridonov of Kazakhstan.

Earlier, Sushil Kumar lost to Ukrainian Andriy Stadnik on points after being pegged down 3-8 on technical points.

While the luck of the draw gave Sushil a bye in the first round, giving him a start straightaway in the quarterfinals, Standnik had to beat 2007 world no. 5 American Doug Schwab in the round of 16 to move further.

In the quarters, Stadnik, a former World Cup winner and 2006 World Championship bronze medallist, out-played the Indian. As Stadnik, quarterfinalist at the 2007 World Championships, moved into the final, all those who lost to him came through to the Repechage, which will decide the two bronze medallists.

In the Repechage first round, Sushil meets Schwab and their winner will meet Belarussian Albert Batyrov. Sushil will need to win a third bout after that to get himself a bronze.

Schwab was fifth at the last World Championships, where Sushil was seventh. Eventually Sushil made it to the Olympics after making it to the quarter-finals of the World wrestling championship, where he lost to Stadnik from a convincing margin of 4-15.

Coming through to the final from the other half of the category is Turkish wrestler Ramazan Shahin, who won the gold medal in the 2007 World Championships, besides claiming the first place in the 2008 European meet.

All those who lose to the ultimate finalists take part in the repechage, which decides the two bronze medallists.

Sushil later said that there was not much pressure on him.

"Probably you may say that there was no expectation from the people back home and the media too. But me and my coach (Satpal) always knew I had a fair chance of winning a medal and I'm happy I could achieve that," Sushil said at the China Agricultural University in Beijing.

"While it is good not to have that burden of expectation on your shoulder, I think we can give even more provided we get better facilities. I want to dedicate this medal to my coach Satpal," said the current world No. 7.

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