World University Games: Indian mixed compound team retains title; Dev Meena sets Pole Vault NR

The Indian compound mixed team retained their World University Games title as the duo of Kushal Dalal and Parneet Kaur secured the gold medal in the mixed team event in Essen, Germany, on Friday.

The duo scored a brilliant 157 out of 160 to edge past the South Korean pair by three points in the final, winning India's first gold medal of the 2025 FISU World University Games.

Earlier, the Indian men's and women's compound teams also clinched the silver and bronze medals, taking the overall medal tally at these games to 5 medals - 1 gold, 1 Silver, 3 bronze medals.

The women's team of Parneet, Avneet Kaur, and Madhura Dhamangaonkar overpowered Great Britain to win the bronze medal. In contrast, the men's team of Kushal, Sahil Jadhav, and Hritik Sharma narrowly lost to Türkiye in the final.

Kushal and Parneet will also compete at the semi-finals of the Individual compound event tomorrow, and will be aiming to win their first-ever Individual gold medals from the University Games.

National Record for Dev Meena

On the other hand, the rising Indian pole vaulter bettered his own national record in the qualification round of the men's pole vault event, reaching a great height of 5.40m to qualify for the final. 

He achieved this mark on just his second attempt and broke the Indian national record for the third time this year. He will now be aiming to improve this mark further in the finals tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Karishma Sanil (Women's Javelin Throw) and Olympian Ankita Dhyani (Women's 3000m Steeplechase) have also booked their spots in their respective finals.