Vaishnavi Adkar went down fighting 6-2, 4-6, 4-6 in a three-hour duel in the women’s tennis semifinals to Eszter Meri of Slovakia in the World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany.
It was a fine run by the 20-year-old Vaishnavi who had dropped only 19 games in all in winning the earlier four rounds in a draw of 64. The effort fetched her a rare tennis medal in the Games.
In fact, it was the only individual medal so far for the Indian contingent.
Vaishnavi was close to winning another medal in the mixed doubles with Atharva Sharma but the duo got beaten in the quarterfinals by the Japanese pair of Natsuki Yoshimoto and Jay Friend. Vaishnavi and Atharva had won two rounds earlier without dropping a set against teams from Colombia and USA.
India has won five medals so far including one gold and one silver, but all the other four medals, apart from Vaishnavi’s tennis effort, were team medals in archery and badminton.
The results: Women: Singles (semifinals): Eszter Meri (Svk) bt Vaishnavi Adkar 2-6, 6-4, 6-4; Quarterfinals: Vaishnavi bt Sina Herrmann (Ger) 6-1, 6-4; Pre-quarterfinals: Vaishnavi bt Angella Okutoyi (Ken) 6-3, 6-4; Second round: Vaishnavi bt Venla Elisa Ahti 6-2, 6-4; Li Zongyu (Chn) bt Anjali Rathi 6-1, 6-4; First round: Vaishnavi bt Jollen Geels (Ned) 6-1, 6-0; Anjali bt christina Owomuhangi (Uga) 6-0, 6-0.
Mixed doubles (quarterfinals): Natsuki Yoshimoto & Jay Friend (Jpn) bt Vaishnavi Adkar & Atharva Sharma 6-0, 7-5; Pre-quarterfinals: Vaishnavi & Atharva bt Olivia Center & Jerry Barton (USA) 6-2, 7-5; First round: Vaishnavi & Atharva bt Angie Castillo & Camilo Torres (Col) 6-1, 6-4.
Published – July 25, 2025 07:19 pm IST