Keiji Suzuki suffered a setback in his bid for a spot in the London Olympics after losing in the semifinals at the hands of unheralded Georgian Adam Okruashvili in the men's over-100-kg class on the final day of the Judo Grand Prix Dusseldorf on Sunday.
The 31-year-old Suzuki, making a comeback after surgery on his left elbow, beat 2011 world bronze medalist Kim Sung Min of South Korea on points in the quarterfinals, only to be tossed to the mat for an ippon defeat by the world 26th-ranked Okruashvili.
"It is too bad that I couldn't win this meet because it was a great chance for me," said the 18th-ranked Suzuki of his first tournament back since having surgery on his elbow in December. "I hadn't trained enough and was nervous about this meet. But the elbow didn't give me any problems."