India’s campaign at the 32nd FISU Summer World University Games, held from July 16 to 27 in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region of Germany, ended with a total of 12 medals – two gold, five silver and five bronze.
Around 300 Indian athletes competed in 3×3 basketball, archery, athletics, badminton, basketball, beach volleyball, fencing, judo, rowing, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, tennis and volleyball.
The country finished well short of its best-ever performance of 26 medals – 11 gold, five silver and 10 bronze – from the previous edition held in Chengdu in 2023.
Archery and athletics both produced five medals each. Amidst quite a few near-misses, archers Sahil Rajesh Jadhav (men’s individual compound), and Parneet Kaur and Kushal Dalal (mixed team compound) grabbed the only two gold medals. Parneet had a full set as she won a silver in the individual event and a bronze in the women’s team competition.
Vaishnavi Adkar became only the second Indian tennis player to win a medal in the World University Games, after Nandal Bal clinched a silver in men’s singles in the 1979 edition in Mexico City. The 20-year-old Vaishnavi finished with a bronze after she went down fighting 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 in a three-hour duel in the semifinals to Eszter Meri of Slovakia.
In athletics, Ankita Dhyani (women’s 3000m steeplechase), Seema (women’s 5000m) and Praveen Chithravel (men’s triple jump) all bagged silver medals. The men’s 4x100m relay team of Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar, Lalu Prasad Bhoi and Mrutyam Jayaram Dondapati impressed with a bronze medal, finishing behind only Republic of Korea and South Africa in the final.
The badminton contingent won its first-ever medal in the history of the competition – a bronze in the mixed team event after losing to Chinese Taipei in the semifinals.
However, the campaign was marred by controversies related to administrative blunders which led to athletes being unable to participate in multiple events. It happened with six of the 12 players chosen for the badminton mixed team competition, Devyaniba Zala (women’s 400m) and Seema (10,000m).
The Association of Indian Universities has suspended its joint secretary, Baljit Singh Sekhon and instituted a three-member inquiry panel to investigate the “mismanagement.”
INDIAN MEDALLISTS AT FISU SUMMER WORLD UNIVERSITY GAMES 2025
Archery
- Gold – Men’s Individual Compound – Sahil Rajesh Jadhav
- Gold – Mixed Team Compound – Parneet Kaur and Kushal Dalal
- Silver – Men’s Team Compound – Kushal Dalal, Sahil Rajesh Jadhav, Hritik Sharma
- Silver – Women’s Individual Compound – Parneet Kaur
- Bronze – Women’s Team Compound – Parneet Kaur, Avneet Kaur and Madhura Dhamanhgaonkar
Athletics
- Silver – Women’s 3000m Steeplechase – Ankita Dhyani
- Silver – Women’s 5000m – Seema
- Silver – Men’s Triple Jump – Praveen Chithravel
- Bronze – Men’s 4x100m Relay – Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar, Lalu Prasad Bhoi, Mrutyam Jayaram Dondapati
- Bronze – Women’s 20km Walk Team – Mansi Negi, Sejal Anil Singh, Mahima Choudhary, Munita Prajapati, Shalini
Badminton
- Bronze – Mixed Team – Sathish Kumar Karunakaran, Saneeth Dayanand, Vaishnavi Khadkekar, Tasnim Mir, Devika Sihag, Varshini Viswanath Sri
Tennis
- Bronze – Women’s Singles – Vaishnavi Adkar