World University Games: Ancy Sojan qualifies for long jump final

Asian Games silver medallist Ancy Sojan kept her medal hopes alive by qualifying for the women’s long jump final at the World University Games 2025 in Berlin, thanks to a clutch final attempt of 6.20m after a shaky start in the qualification round.

The 24-year-old from Kerala fouled her first jump and managed only 5.97m on her second, which left her in seventh place in Group A. But with pressure mounting, Sojan delivered when it mattered most, leaping 6.20m on her third and final attempt. The jump pushed her to fourth in her group and 10th overall, sealing her place in the final.

China’s Xiong Shiqi topped Group A with a 6.41m effort, followed by Australia’s Samantha Dale (6.38m) and Germany’s Samira Attermeyer (6.22m).

Ancy, who also won silver at the 2023 Asian Championships in South Korea, has a personal best of 6.71m and a season’s best of 6.54m. She will need to come closer to those marks to contend for a podium finish in the final.

In other athletics action, Ruchit Pratapbhai Mori advanced to the men’s 400m hurdles semifinals after clocking 50.58s for a third-place finish in his heat. Only two track and field events featured Indian participation on the opening day of athletics.

In tennis, Vaishnavi Adkar progressed to the women’s singles quarterfinals after a 6-3, 6-4 win over Kenya’s Angella Okutoyi. Table tennis saw mixed results: the women's doubles team of Ayaz Murad and Devarsh Vaghela and the men’s pair of Kotecha T and Wani S won their round of 64 matches, though both players faltered in their singles group matches.

Elsewhere, India’s women’s beach volleyball team (Kanimozhi and Gowshika) lost to Latvia, while in fencing, both the women’s foil and men’s epee teams were defeated by Poland. In Taekwondo, Rishita Dang earned India’s lone win of the day with a 2-0 victory over Lebanon’s Celine Askarjian.