India’s ace grappled Bajrang Punia bowed out of the 19th Asian Games following a massive defeat in the men’s freestyle 65kg bronze medal match on Friday. Bajrang, who had already missed out on the opportunity to defend his gold, was bested by Japan’s Kaiki Yamaguchi via technical superiority (10-0) and went out of the Asian Games empty-handed.
In the first half, Yamaguchi claimed four points and went on to claim another six to walk away with a bronze medal. Bajrang became the fourth Indian wrestler to lose the semifinal bout and head to the bronze medal match. Aman Sehrawat, Sonam Malik and Kiran will also wrestle in their respective bronze medal bouts after losing the semifinals.
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Grappler Aman suffered a 10-12 defeat against Japanese wrestler Toshihiro Hasegawa, a World Championship bronze medallist, in the men’s freestyle 57kg semifinals.
Sonam Malik, who packed back-to-back 10-0 victories earlier on Friday, lost 0-7 to Mun Hyongyong of the Republic of Korea in the semifinal.
Meanwhile, Kiran also lost her semis bout against Kazakhstan’s Zhamila Bakbergenova 4-2. The four wrestlers will compete for a bronze medal in their respective categories later in the day.
On the other hand, Radhika suffered a 5-10 defeat against Mongolian grappler Delgermaa Enkhsaikhan in the women’s freestyle 68kg quarterfinal, ending her Hangzhou campaign.
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