Long jumper Shaili Singh made the second-best effort by an Indian after legendary Anju Bobby George, hitting a mark of 6.76 metres to win the gold medal in women’s long jump at the Indian Grand Prix 4 2023 athletics meet held in Bangaluru, Karnataka, on Saturday.
Shaili also breached the qualifying standard for the women’s long jump for upcoming Asian Games 2022, set to be hosted in China later this year. The mark was set at 6.45 metres by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), as per Olympics.com. The 19-year-old made an improvement in her personal best by 28 cm at Karnataka’s Sree Kanteerava Stadium, helping her surpass Aishwarya Babu (6.73 metres), JJ Shobha and V Neena (6.66 metres), Mayookha Johnu (6.64 metres), M Prajusha, Nayana James, and Ancy Sojan (6.55 metres) in the list of the best long jumps by an Indian woman. Anju Bobby George is still at the top with a 6.83-metre jump.
Nayana James, who won the silver medal, also breached the Asian Games qualifying standards with a jump of 6.53 m.
In the women’s shot put event, Manpreet Kaur, the Rio Olympian, made her best effort of 16.81 m to not only clinch a gold but also breach the Asian Games qualifying standard of 16.30 m.
Baranica Elangovan from Tamil Nadu clinched gold in the women’s pole vault with a throw of 4.10 m, which is also the standard set to qualify for the Asian Games.
Amoj Jacob clinched gold in the men’s 400 m event with timings of 46.13 seconds. He also met the standard to qualify for the Asian Games set by AFI, which is 46.17 seconds.
Amlan Borgohain clinched the top prize in the 100 m and 200 m events with timings of 10.53s and 20.78s respectively. The Assamese sprinter now has three fastest times by Indian in half-lapper.
He had set a record of 20.52 seconds during the AFI Federation Cup last year and 20.55 seconds in National Games back in October.
