India’s star wrestler Bajrang Punia lost to Japan’s Kaiki Yamaguchi due to technical superiority (10-0) in the bronze medal match at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Friday on October 6.

The anticipated Indian beat Bahrain’s Alibeg Alibegov in the quarterfinals hy 4-0 points to qualify for the semifinal, where he unfortunetly lost to the Iranian Rahman Amouzadkhalili by 0-8 points. Punia participated in the protest against Chief Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, former Wrestling Federation of India chief and achieved an Asian Games quota despite not attending the trials.

The decision of India Olympic Association ad-hoc panel, led by Bhupender Singh Bajwa, who had handed Bajrang a direct entry, invited criticism from the wrestling fraternity. 

On the other hand India's women's wrestling event saw bouts of Sonam and Kiran, both of whom grabbed a bronze each on Friday. Sonam prevailed against China’s Jia Long by points 7-5 in a tight contest to take the bronze in the women’s 62kg freestyle. 

Indian grappler Kiran gave a solid performance as she clinched a bronze medal by outplaying Mongolia's Ariunjargal Ganbat by 3-0 in the women's freestyle 76kg category bout. 

In the bronze medal round, Aman beat his Chinese rival Minghu Liu with a 11-0 dominating technical superiority victory in the men's freestyle 57Kg category bout on Friday. He pushed his opponent who was not prepared for his prowess in this match out of bounds while pinning him down to claim a podium finish.