Taipei 2017 mascot Bravo won a FISU contest to crown the best mascot from a previous Universiade ©ITG

Bravo, the bear mascot from the Taipei 2017 Summer Universiade, has won an International University Sports Federation (FISU) competition to determine university sport's favourite mascot.

Online voting was held to whittle down eight selected mascots from previous Universiades to just one, and Bravo was victorious.

U-Laika, a Siberian dog used as the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade mascot, finished runner-up in a tight final.

Bravo won 51 per cent of the vote.

Belluno 85, a magic blue griffin, and The Buffalo were both defeated by Bravo en route to the title.

They were the Belluno 1985 and Buffalo 1993 mascots, respectively.

Bravo met FISU President Oleg Matytsin at Taipei 2017 ©FISU
Bravo met FISU President Oleg Matytsin at Taipei 2017 ©FISU

Mascots from Edmonton 1983, Strbske Pleso 1987, Sapporo 1991 and Kazan 2013 were also in the running.

The contest was dubbed "#MascotMonday" and began in November, with voters having 24 hours to choose their preferred mascot as knockout contest were decided by popular vote on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Bravo is based on the Formosan black bear, a subspecies of the Asian black bear found only in Taiwan.

Formosan black bears are classed as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, with habit destruction and poaching among their main threats.

Bravo had a strong presence at Taipei 2017, and has appeared at other events since.