Anju Bobby George, a former world championship bronze medalist in long jump, said that her disciple Shaili Singh can win the first-ever Olympic medal for the nation in a few years after Shaili Singh won the women's long jump event at the Golden Grand Prix 2023 athletics meet in Yokohama, Japan. Everyone wants to know whether she meant the 2024 Paris Olympics or if we would have to wait until the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
She is just 19 years old, but based on her current form, she may easily reach 7 meters and even beyond, which is sufficient to guarantee at least a medal, if not gold, in the Olympics. For women's long jump, Galina Chistyakova currently holds the world record (7.52 meters).
At the Indian Grand Prix earlier this year, Shaili made a jump of 6.76 meters. The second-best leap by an Indian athlete in history occurred with this one. Anju Bobby George held the 6.83m national record when competing in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens.
“The distance she has leaped is amazing for a 19-year-old. She jumped 6.76 meters when she was 19. She has a unique skill, and we must carefully nurture her so that when she is an adult, she is among the finest in the world,” Anju added.
Shaili must put in the work to compete at the international level and provide her best effort, Anju said. She will soon be in the lead, too.
In 2017, at the age of 13, Anju was the one who first saw Shaili. Vinita Singh gave birth to her in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, shortly after Anju took her under her wing. Since then, there has been no turning back.
At the moment, Robert, a high-performance coach himself, is Shaili's trainer at Bengaluru's National Centre of Excellence for the Sports Authority of India SAI.
