In 1996, the championship season opened with the first World University Archery Championship in Vaulx-en-Velin, France. After 11 editions as a WUC and 5 editions as an optional sport at the Summer Universiade, Archery will become a compulsory sport on the SU programme in 2019.

Athletics is a perfect example of the Olympic motto ‘Citius, Altius, Fortius’ (‘Faster, Higher, Stronger’). The competitions require athletes to run faster, throw further, jump higher and leap longer than their rivals. Athletics is the largest individual sport in the programme of the Summer Unive...

The first World University Badminton Championship was organised in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1990. Traditionally, all Asian countries have distinguished themselves in this discipline. Next to the WUC programme, Badminton also featured as an optional sport at the Summer Universiades in Asia (Bangkok & Sh...

Basketball is one of the few sports which have featured at every International University Sports Week before joining the list of compulsory sports at the Universiade in Turin in 1959. It is one of the most anticipated tournaments of the Universiade as it gathers only high level players.

With more than 300 participating athletes, Fencing is among the most popular sports at the Summer Universiade. Valentina Vezzali, Time Nagy, Xue Tan, Stanislav Podzniakov, Pavel Kolobkov and Marcel Fisher are just few names who won Olympic as well as Summer Universiade medals, reflecting on the h...

Judo has always been intimately linked to the university world. After a brilliant career in the World University Championship programme, Judo was introduced in the Universiade programme in 2007 (Bangkok). It’s evolution in terms of participation level is still amazing and this is also true in ter...

Grace and beauty are what best describes a Rhythmic Gymnastics competition. Up to now it is the only compulsory women-only discipline in the programme of FISU events. Rhythmic Gymnastics is without any doubt the preferred discipline by the audience as the fans are coming in droves to the see comp...

Rugby Sevens is a variant of Rugby Union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. A World University Championship sport since 2004, Rugby Sevens has also featured as an optional sport at the Summer Universia...

Sailing was an optional sport at the Summer Universiade 1999 in Palma de Mallorca. It was added to the official sports programme of the championships in 2002 and has been organized ever since. The category of sailing at the World Univsersity Championships is called match racing in which two simil...

During the first Summer Universiade in Turin (ITA) 1959, 12 records were broken, setting the milestone for another 12 Universiade records just two years later in Sofia (BUL). This is typically Swimming: a very high level sport in a dramatic setting.

China has greatly contributed to the growth of university table tennis, which is why it was included as an optional sport in the Summer Universiade in Beijing in 2001. The continuously increasing number of participants finally provided table tennis the opportunity to join the list of compulsory s...

When Taekwondo became a modern sport, it preserved the spirit of a two-thousand–year-old martial art, as well as its force and appeal. Also called foot fencing, this sport has been added to the Universiade sports programme in Taipei 2017 after being a part of the World University sports programme...

Tennis is one of the university sports with the oldest history in the FISU sports programme. It has featured at every International Summer Sports Week starting from 1949 in Merano (ITA) and celebrated its debut as a compulsory sport at the first Summer Universiade in Turin in 1959. From the very ...

From the very first Summer Universiade in Torino 1959, Volleyball has been a compulsory and successful sport. The level of the games and the continuous increasing number of participating teams reflected on the interest Volleyball generated among our member federations.

Water Polo is one of the fastest and toughest team sports, which can best be described as a combination of Swimming, Handball, Football, Rugby and Wrestling. As far as numbers go, Water Polo steadily increased from one Universiade to the next. A women’s tournament has been included since Belgrade...