Returning to the World Championship after eight years, double Olympic medallist Sushil Kumar lost his opening round bout to Azerbaijan's Khadzhimurad Gadzhiyev in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan on Friday.
Using all his experience, the wily Indian had raced to a 9-4 lead but lost seven points in a row to lose the 74 kg qualification bout.
Sushil employed a four-point throw after trailing 0-2 to take lead and further consolidated it with another four-point throw, which came from a difficult position.
The Azerbaijan camp challenged the throw but lost the call, giving one additional point to Sushil for a 9-4 lead at the break.
However, the second period belonged to the Junior world bronze medallist, who first pushed Sushil out and the scored of a takedown and took the lead with a gut wrench from ground position.
Time was running out but Sushil appeared to tired himself out as Gadzhiyev scored two more points with a two-point push out throw to clinch the bout.
The two-time Olympic medallist will now have to wait to know his fate. If Gadzhiyev reaches the final, Sushil, will get a chance to fight for Olympic qualification as well as a bronze.
Sushil is the only Indian to have won a World title when he triumphed in 2010 in Moscow. In the non-Olympic 70kg, Karan lost his Qualification round bout 0-7 to Uzbekistan's Ikhtiyor Navruzov.