WUG2025: Seema and Praveen Chithravel deliver silver for India

Triple Jumper Praveen Chithravel did the expected and distance runner Seema delivered the unexpected as India finally made it to the medals charts in Athletics competitions in the FISU World University Games 2025 in the Lohrheidein Sportpark in the German mining and steel city of Bochum.

With two gold, four silver and three bronze for a total of nine medals, India is in 17th place on the medal table. It will mostly bank on the Race Walking teams, 3000m Steeplechaser Ankit Dhyani and the relay teams to add to its tally and take it to double digits. The Athletics team finally joined Archery, Badminton and Tennis in contributing to India’s haul.

While Praveen Chithravel was fancied to win a medal, Seema found a memorable way to overcome the shock and disappointment of an Association of Indian Universities Sports Board official not entering her in the 10,000m event. The medal will find pride of place along with the 2024 Asian Cross Country Championships gold.

Of course, the race pace was right up Seema’s street, but to her credit she showed a keen tactical sense and a faith in her ability to find speed when needed. She judged the race really well, staying within striking distance, unmindful of her own rank during each of the earlier laps. Clearly, she has benefit immensely by training with coach Scott Simmons in Colorado Springs.

There were quite a few runners – notably Phoebe Anderson (Britain), Sarah Wanjiru Njeri (Kenya) and Emily Jane Parker (France) – at the start line who boasted of having better times over the distance than her this season, but she was not worried about that and focused on getting her rhythm and pace right.

Seema, who hails from Reta village in Himachal Pradesh’s Chamba district and is a student of  KIIT, Bhubaneswar, was comfortable bringing up the rear of the pack for more than two-thirds of the race. It was in the last three laps that she stepped up pace and made her move. Even then, she did not expend energy and was content lying in ninth place until two laps were left.

With the leaders not upping the pace, Seema went on the outside and moved into the third place by the time the bell rang at the start of the final 400m. She kept pace with Britain’s Emily Jane Parker and France’s Julia David-Smith as the trio shifted gears. The Frenchwoman took the lead with 325m left and Seema slipped past the Briton on the back straight of the last lap.

Praveen Chithravel lived up to expectations and won India’s first track and field medal in Rhine-Rhur 2025. His quest for a 17m effort has not resulted in success over five competitions in three months but his 16.62m and 16.66m efforts on the first two attempts were enough to put him in pole position until Australia’s Connor Murphy registered 16.67 on his second try.

The 24-year-old 2023 Asian Games silver medalist and 2025 Asian Championships bronze tried to surpass the Australian but was unable to find the distance and registered his last three attempts as fouls. The KIIT student was also relieved that Brazil’s Joao Pedro Silva de Azevedo and Chinese Taipei’s Li Yun-chen found his 16.66m too hard to breach.

The Indian men and women’s sprint relay teams booked their berths in Sunday’s finals, finished second in 39.21 seconds and fourth in 44.44 seconds in their respective heats. Thowfeeq Naushad finished ninth in Decathlon with 6993 points while Jashbir Nayak, who had a no mark in Pole Vault, did not finish the gruelling 10-event competition.

The results (Indians only):

Men

4x100m Relay Heats: 3. India (Lalu Prasad Bhoi, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar, Mrutyam Jayaram Dondapati) 39.21 seconds.
Triple Jump Final: 2. Praveen Chithravel 16.66m.
Decathlon: 9. Thowfeeq Noushad  6993 points (100m: 11.10; LJ: 6.84; SP: 9.97; HJ: 1.91; 400m: 49.29; 110mH: 15.55; DT: 35.49; PV: 4.20; JT: 54.30; 1500m: 4:46.25); Jashbir Nayak (11.30; 6.71; 12.49; 1.88; 51.16; 15.30; 35.64; NM; 59.22, DNS) Did Not Finish.

Women

5000m Final: 2. Seema 15:35.86.
4x100m Relay Heats: 7. India (Moumita Mondal, Angel Silva Mariya, Abinaya Rajarajan, Sudeeksha Vadluri)  44.44 seconds.

Javelin Throw Final: 10. Karishma Sudarshan Sanil 52.93m.