Shaili Singh who recently won silver at World U-20 Long Jump missed the gold medal only by 1 cm. Her mentor and Long Jump great Anju Bobby George isn't disappointed, however.
India ended its campaign in World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, on Sunday, with two silver and one bronze medal. The bronze was won by the 4x400 Mixed Relay team. This is India's best-ever performance in the junior world championships.
Anju, who is currently the vice president of the Athletics Federation of India took to her Twitter on August 22 to share her protégé's winning.
#ShailiSingh, you make us all very proud as you add another feather to your cap at the #WorldAthleticsU20Championships by winning a silver medal.
— Anju Bobby George (@anjubobbygeorg1) August 22, 2021
This feat would not have been possible without the support of @afiindia @Media_SAI, @NsscSai, @IndiaSports, @OGQ_India pic.twitter.com/x4wiuIAy6z
Coached by Robert Bobby George, Anju's husband, 17-year-old Shaili Singh hails from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh and was discovered by the couple as a potential long jumper in 2017.
"In 2017, Bobby and I came across a young girl from Jhansi. We scouted her later that year in the junior national competition and decided to induct her into the Anju Bobby Sports Foundation in 2018," said Anju Bobby George. Since then, he has worked tirelessly to create a new star in Athletics.
According to Anju, Shaili has indeed come a long way from jumping 4.55m initially, and later, creating a national record and becoming world no. 1 (under 18) with a long jump of 6.48m. At the ongoing U20 championship, Shaili finished second with 6.59m and missed the gold by 1 cm. 18-year-old Maja Askag of Sweden won the gold with a jump of 6.60m.
Shaili, who came into the final with the best performance in the qualifying stage with an effort of 6.48 metres, improved on her personal best with a superb effort of 6.59 in the women's long jump final.
However, she lost out on the gold medal to Sweden's Maja Askag, the European junior champion, who cleared 6.60 metres. Mariia Horielova of Ukraine took the bronze medal with a season best effort of 6.50 metres.
Third medal for India
Saili's silver medal was the third medal for India in the World Athletics U20 Championships 2021 and the performance of India after their best-ever performance of seven medals including a gold, in the Tokyo Olympics, augurs well for Indian athletics.
In the final on Sunday, Shaili had taken the lead with a leap of 6.59m on her third jump and it looked that India would eventually win the gold medal that it has been craving for the last couple of days, But Sweden's Maja cleared 6.60 on her fourth jump and took the gold medal as Shaili fouled her next two attempts and could manage only 6.37 metres in the sixth and final jump. Maja had also won the women's triple jump gold earlier in the championships.
Among the other Indians on Sunday, Ankita finished eighth among 10 participants in the women's 5000m metres final with a timing of 17:17.68. Ethiopia bagged gold and silver medals as Mizan Alem and Mizan Alem finished in 16:05.61 and 16:13.16 minutes with Prisca Chesang of Uganda took bronze in 16:31.78 minutes.
The 2021 World Athletics U20 championships, also known as World Junior Championships are being held at Nairobi in Kenya and 27 athletes are representing India at the World Championships in various sports categories including hammer throw, javelin throw, triple jump, 4x400 meters relay, 3000 meters steeplechase, shot put, 10000 meters race walk amongst others.
India also won silver at 10000 meters race walk bagged by debut athlete Amit Kumar on Saturday, August 21 and bronze by mixed relay team earlier on Wednesday, August 18.
(With additional inputs from IANS)
