Ankita Dhyani wins silver in 3000m steeplechase; India finish with 12 medals

India wrapped up their FISU World University Games 2025 campaign with two bronze medals and Ankita Dhyani bagging a silver in women’s 3000m steeplechase on the final day at Rhine-Ruhr, Germany on Sunday.

The three medals on the final day took India’s final medals tally at the 2025 Rhine-Ruhr World University Games to 12 - two gold, five silver and five bronze. The men’s 4x100m relay and women’s race walk teams earned the bronze medals on Sunday.

In the steeplechase, Ankita Dhyani stayed within touching distance of the leading pack for most of the race, finishing strong with a stunning burst in the final lap. She clocked a personal best time of 9:31.99 to finish second.

Ankita, who had run in the 5000m at the Paris 2024 Olympics, only took up the steeplechase late last year and clocked her previous best time of 9:39.00 in Iowa in April.

Ilona Mononen of Finland won gold after finishing in 9:31.86 and Germany’s Adia Budde bagged bronze with a time of 9:33.34.

India’s first medal on the final day came in the women’s 20km race walk event after the trio of Sejal Singh, Munita Prajapati and Mansi Negi won the bronze with a combined time of 4:56:06.

Sejal Singh was the fastest Indian race walker, finishing 15th individually with a time of 1:35:21. Munita Prajapati (1:39:33) finished in 18th spot while Mansi Negi (1:41:12) finished 20th.

The People’s Republic of China won the gold medal with a time of 4:28:51 and Australia finished second after clocking 4:31:20 in the women’s 20km race walk event.

In the men’s 4x100m relay, the quartet of Lalu Prasad Bhoi, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar and Dondapati Mrutyum Jayaram clocked 38.89 to bag the bronze medal.

The Republic of Korea took home gold with a time of 38.50, while South Africa secured silver with 38.80.

Sunday’s medals brought India’s overall tally in athletics to five at the FISU World University Games.

Praveen Chithravel and Seema won silver in the men's triple jump and the women's 5000m race, respectively, on Saturday.

Besides medals in athletics, India also managed a rich haul in compound archery from Rhine-Ruhr.

Sahil Rajesh Jadhav and Parneet Kaur won gold and silver medals in the men’s and women’s individual compound events, respectively. India had also won the mixed team gold, men's team silver and women's team bronze in the compound archery events.

India opened their medal account at Rhine-Ruhr 2025 with a historic bronze in the mixed team badminton event - the country’s first-ever medal in the sport at the World University Games.

In tennis, Vaishnavi Adkar also made history by claiming bronze in the women’s singles. She became the first Indian woman to medal in tennis at the World University Games and second overall after Nandan Bal’s silver in men’s singles at the 1979 edition in Mexico City.

India’s best-ever performance at the World University Games came in Chengdu 2023, where the country finished seventh overall with 26 medals, including 11 golds - eight of which came in shooting. However, shooting was not part of the World University Games 2025.

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