New Delhi: India’s campaign at the World University Games in Germany got off to a mixed start on Thursday, with teenage swimmer Rohit Benedicton providing the day’s standout performance by shattering a national record in the men’s 50m butterfly, even as other Indian athletes struggled to make an impact across multiple disciplines.
The 19-year-old swimmer clocked 24.00 seconds to finish 12th overall and qualify for the semifinals, eclipsing the seven-year-old national mark of 24.09 set by Olympian Virdhawal Khade in 2018. The performance marks yet another milestone in Rohit’s rapid rise — just last month, he broke Khade’s 100m butterfly record with a 52.57-second finish at the National Aquatics Championships in Bhubaneswar.
Rohit was the only Indian swimmer to advance to the next round on the opening day. While the swimmers and other athletes struggled, the Indian badminton contingent had a commanding start in the mixed team event, blanking Macau 5-0 in their opening Group F clash.
The men’s doubles pair of Saneeth Dayanand and Sathish Kumar Karunakaran cruised past Chi Chon Pui and Kok Weng Ving in straight games to set the tone for the tie. Devika Sihag followed with a confident win in women’s singles over Chi Wa Pui. Saneeth returned for a singles outing and defeated Fei Long 2-0, while the women’s doubles team of Tasnim Mir and Varshini Viswanath comfortably beat Sam Kio Ieong and Wai Kei Wang. In the mixed doubles rubber, Karunakaran partnered with Vaishnavi Khadkekar to complete the sweep, overcoming the Macau duo of Kok Weng Vong and Chi Wa Pui. The only other team in Group F is Hong Kong China, whom India will face next.
India’s fencing campaign saw limited success, with Abhay Shinde being the only Indian fencer to reach the knockout stage in his category before going down narrowly to Spain’s representative 13-15 in the round of 64. In the women’s epee event, Mitva Chaudhari lost in the round-of-32 to Germany’s Alexandra Zittel 11-15, while the rest of the Indian fencers failed to make the knockouts. In taekwondo, the mixed pairs poomsae duo of Yash Malinda and Ritu Yadav bowed out in the round-of-16, losing 8.932-8.433 to their Chinese opponents.
It was a tough day on the tennis courts, with Kabir Hans losing a hard-fought men’s singles match against Uzbekistan’s Maksim Shin 2-6, 6-4, 4-6. Shashank Macherla faced a heavier defeat at the hands of Switzerland’s Luca Staheli, going down 0-6, 1-6. The Indian women’s volleyball team suffered its second consecutive defeat, this time to a strong Polish side in straight sets: 15-25, 13-25, 15-25.
With two losses, their hopes of advancing to the next round have dimmed considerably. The men’s and women’s table tennis teams are set to begin their campaigns later in the day. The women will face Romania in Group 5, while the men are slated to play Japan in Group 3.
(IANS)
