Rhine-Ruhr [Germany], July 28 : India concluded their campaign at the FISU World University Games with a total of 12 medals, including two bronze medals and a silver medal by Ankita Dhyani in women's 3,000 m steeplechase on the final day of the competition on Sunday.
The three medals on the final day took the Indian tally to two gold, five silver and five bronze medals, a total of 12 medals. The bronze medals were secured by the men's 4x100m relay and women's race walk teams on Sunday, as per Olympics.com.
Ankita, who took part in the 5,000 m event in the 2024 Paris Olympics, took the steeplechase late last year and, in April, clocked her previous best timings of 9:39.00 in Iowa
Ilona Mononen of Finland bagged the gold after finishing in 9:31.86, and Germany's Adia Budde bagged bronze with a time of 9:33.34.
India kick-started the final day of the competition with a bronze medal in the women's 20 km race walk event as the trio of Sejal Singh, Munita Prajapati, and Mansi Negi secured a combined timing of 4:56:06 hours. Sejal was the fastest amongst all Indian walkers, finishing 15th individually with a 1:35:21 hour timing, while Munita Prajapati (1:39:33) finished in 18th spot, and Mansi Negi (1:41:12) finished 20th.
China walked away with the gold medal in the event with a time of 4:28:51 hours, and Australia finished second with a time of 4:31:20 hours in the women's 20km race walk event.
Coming to the men's 4x100m relay, the quartet of Lalu Prasad Bhoi, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Dondapati Mrutyum Jayaram took home the bronze medal with a timing of 38.89, while South Korea took home the gold with 38.50 and South Africa got the silver with 38.80.
India secured a total of five athletics medals at the competition, with Praveen Chitravel and Seema getting the silver medals in men's triple jump and the women's 5000m race, respectively, on Saturday.
India also had a fine medal count in compound archery, as Sahil Rajesh Jadhav and Parneet Kaur walked away with gold and silver medals in the men's and women's compound events. India also landed a gold medal in the mixed team event, and the men's team got a silver. The women's team bronze was another highlight in the compound category.
India's medal tally opened with its second-ever badminton medal at the event, a historic bronze medal in the mixed team event. In tennis as well, India secured their first-ever medal, with Vaishnavi Adkar claiming a singles bronze. The first-ever tennis medal was won by Nandan Bal in 1979 in Mexico, a silver.
India's best-ever performance in the World University Games came back in 2023 at Chengdu, finishing seventh with 26 medals, including 11 gold medals.