World University Games 2025: Vaishnavi Adkar Becomes First Indian Woman Tennis Player To Win A Medal

Vaishnavi Adkar became the first Indian woman tennis player to win a medal in the World University Games as she clinched a singles bronze while the archers continued their strong show with the compound men's and mixed teams entering the gold medal rounds in Berlin on Thursday.

A host of track and field athletes also made it to the finals as the WUG entered its business end.

Vaishnavi lost her semifinals match to Eszter Meri of Slovakia 6-2 4-6 4-6 to settle for bronze -- the country's second medal so far in this edition of the WUG. In tennis competition, the two losing semifinalists are awarded a bronze each.

The 20-year-old Vaishnavi became only the second Indian 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.

In archery, India are assured of at least two silver medals. Compound archer Kushal Dalal made it to two finals -- one in men's team and another in the mixed team events.

The compound mixed team of Dalal and Parneet Kaur beat their Chinese Taipei rivals 158-151 to book their spot in the gold medal match against Korea.

Later, the compound men's team of Dalal, Sahil Jadhav and Hritik Sharma beat their Chinese Taipei opponents 235-233 in a closely-fought semifinal match.

However, the women's compound team of Parneet Kaur, Avneet Kaur and Madhura Dhamangaonkar lost to USA 230-233 in the semifinals. They will play in the bronze medal match against Great Britain on Friday.

In track and field, the mixed 4x400m mixed relay team entered the finals, and so have Sahil Silwal (men's javelin throw), Kiran Matre (men's 5000m) and Seema (women's 5000m).

The mixed 4x400m relay team clocked 3 minutes 19.21 seconds in the heats to finish second overall while Sahil finished 10th overall with a 71.60m throw.

Seema, who reportedly missed out on the 10,000m event as her entry was knocked off due to error by the Indian officials, made it to the women's 5000m finals after clocking 15:55.33 to finish third in her heat and overall.

Matre clocked 14:41.49 to finish second in his heat.

Moumita Mondal, meanwhile, advanced to the 100m hurdles semifinals after clocking 13.37 seconds in her heat race. She finished 19th overall but made it to the next round.

With just three competition days left, India's performance in this edition of the Games has been disappointing.

India had dished out its best performance in the last edition of the Games, winning 26 medals -- 11 gold, 5 silver and 10 bronze -- and had finished seventh in the overall medals tally. Shooters had won 14 medals, including 8 gold, but this time the sport was not included in the roster.