Grit, Glory, and Near Misses: India’s Action-Packed Day at the World University Games 2025
A day filled with promise, heartbreak, and historic milestones marked India’s journey at the World University Games 2025. Across athletics, archery, tennis, badminton, and team sports, the Indian contingent fought bravely, delivering inspiring performances and setting up medal hopes for the coming days. Here’s how the day unfolded from morning qualifiers to late-night finals.
Athletics: Finals Secured, Battles Fought, and Narrow Escapes
Indian athletes began the day with encouraging news from the distance events. In the men’s and women’s 5000m, both Seema and Kiran Mhatre booked spots in the finals. Seema clocked a strong 15:55.33 to secure third place in her heat, while Kiran, running in a tactical heat, timed 14:41.49 to finish second and qualify comfortably. However, teammate Gagan Singh missed out, finishing 11th in his heat with 14:22.20.
The field events offered moments of mixed fortunes. Sahil, competing in men’s javelin, qualified for the final with a solid throw of 71.60m, showing consistency even if not yet near his season best. Conversely, Sagar had a disappointing outing, managing only 69.63m and failing to advance. The spotlight in shot put turned to Samardeep Singh Gill, who opened with 18.53m and improved to 19.16m. Positioned in fifth, hopes were high but three consecutive fouls in his final attempts meant he slipped to finish sixth overall.
In the women’s discus throw, Sanya Yadav started with 49.82m and marginally bettered it to 49.88m. However, the mark wasn’t enough to challenge the leaders, and she concluded her campaign in 10th place.
On the track, sprinter Animesh Kujur faced the day’s most dramatic wait. Running in the 200m semifinal, Animesh clocked 20.937 seconds to finish third in his heat missing an automatic qualifying spot by a whisker (just 0.004 seconds). After anxious moments, he scraped through to the final as the eighth fastest qualifier, finishing finals in fourth place. Meanwhile, Mariya Angel Silvia clocked 24.56 in her heat, finishing sixth and missing out on the final.
In the women’s 100m hurdles, Moumita Mondal ran 13.37 seconds, finishing sixth in her heat but doing just enough to advance as one of the fastest losers to the semifinals, showing grit and consistency.
The Indian 4×400m mixed relay team delivered one of the day’s highlights in the heats. Comprising Jerome Jayaseelan, Rupal, Vishal TK, and Devyaniba Zala, the quartet ran 3:19.21 to finish second in their heat and comfortably enter the final. Later at night, the team fought valiantly, improving to 3:18.40 in the final, but narrowly missed a medal, finishing fourth.
In the women’s 800m final, Chanda gave her best but couldn’t match the late surge of rivals, finishing at the back of the pack still an achievement to reach the final in a competitive field.
Archery, Tennis, and Badminton: Historic Firsts and Mixed Fortunes
The day was equally intense in archery, where India’s compound teams stood out. The men’s compound team defeated Chinese Taipei 235-233 in the semifinal to book a place in the gold medal match against Turkey. The women’s compound team overcame Italy 232-226 in the quarterfinals, only to fall short against the USA 230-233 in the semis, setting up a bronze medal clash against Great Britain. In the mixed compound event, Parneet and Kushal dominated Chinese Taipei 158-151 to set up a gold medal match against South Korea.
For India’s recurve archers, results were less favorable. The men’s recurve team edged out the USA 5-3 in the round of 16 but lost 3-5 to Chinese Taipei in the quarterfinals. The women’s team couldn’t get past Chinese Taipei either, going down 1-5 in their quarterfinal. Earlier, they had comfortably beaten Turkey 6-0 in the round of 16.
In tennis, India celebrated a slice of history. Vaishnavi Adkar became the country’s first-ever women’s singles medalist at the World University Games, winning bronze after a grueling three-set semifinal against Slovakia’s Eszter. Vaishnavi started strong, winning the first set 6-2, but her opponent came back to take the next two sets 6-4, 6-4. Despite the loss, Vaishnavi’s run built on a first serve success rate of over 90% remains a milestone for Indian university tennis.
The day also saw ups and downs in badminton. In the women’s singles, Devika and Aditi advanced from their round of 32 matches, but Aditi later lost to Tidapron in the round of 16. Saneeth and Rohan had similar fates: Saneeth beat his Polish opponent easily but fell to Enogat in the round of 16, while Rohan defeated Germany’s Kian before bowing out to Mathias in a close contest.
Indian mixed doubles pairs, including Viraj & Alisha and Sathish & Vaishnavi, couldn’t progress beyond the round of 32. Their exits showed the competitive nature of the draw.
In team sports, the men’s basketball team struggled against Argentina, losing 52-79 and moving to a placement match to avoid finishing last.
The Day in Perspective: Triumphs, Tears, and Hopes Ahead
Despite injuries and illness setbacks, including David Solomon missing the men’s long jump final due to high fever, India’s contingent displayed resilience and quality across sports. The compound archery teams’ march into medal matches, Vaishnavi’s historic tennis bronze, and Seema, Kiran, Sahil, and Animesh qualifying for their respective finals offered clear highlights.
At the same time, there were heartbreaks: Moumita just edging in, Samardeep’s fouls denying a shot put medal, and the 4×400m mixed relay team finishing tantalizingly close to a medal.
As the World University Games move into crucial medal rounds, India’s athletes have shown they belong on this stage. With finals in athletics and archery ahead, and potential medals in sight, there’s much for fans to look forward to. 🇮🇳✨
The coming days could well see these near-misses transform into podium finishes turning promise into glory at Chengdu.
