World University Games: Parneet Kaur moves to compound archery semifinals

Indian compound archer Parneet Kaur advanced to the semi-final of the 2025 World University Games with three consecutive wins in the elimination round in Essen, Germany, on Wednesday.

Parneet had earlier earned the top seed in the women's compound individual ranking round with a University Games Record-equalling performance of 701 points.

The former world champion continued her outstanding performance in the elimination round as she now advanced to the final four with a comfortable 144-141 win against Alyssia Chambraud of France.

Parneet, who was also a part of India's world champion women's compound team, will be the only non-Korean archer in the semi-finals stage, set to take place on 26th July.

Meanwhile, the defending champion Avneet Kaur faced a quarterfinal exit 140-146 against South Korea's Yeeun Moon after defeating her compatriot Madhura Dhamangaonkar in the round of 16.

On the other hand, the poor performance in the recurve category continued as none of the three male Indian recurve archers were able to reach the pre-quarterfinals of the competition.

A solid start for Animesh Kujur

The 200m national record holder, Animesh Kujur, had a good start to the University Games as he comfortably won his preliminary round heat to qualify for the semi-finals with a time of 21.16s.

Although he was no way near his personal best of 20.32s, it was enough for Animesh to book a direct spot in the semifinals, which will take place on Thursday.

However, his compatriot Manikanta Hoblidhar missed another semi-final berth after his 100m exit as he finished 4th in his heat with a sub-par timing of 21.42s, finishing 24th overall in the preliminary round.

In the field events, shot putter Samardeep Singh Gill (19.10m) and women's discus thrower Sanya Yadav (51.21m) also progressed further to their respective finals.