Uttar Pradesh youngster Shaili Singh produced an all-time second longest long jump behind her idol and mentor Anju Bobby George with a spectacular 6.76m effort en route to winning a gold at the Indian Grand Prix 4 Athletics meet here on Saturday.
Shaili’s performance stole the thunder from Assam sprinter Amlan Borgohain’s 100-200 double title in men’s section.
The 19-year-old Shaili improved her personal best by 28cm and catapulted over Aishwaya Babu (6.73m), JJ Shobha and V Neena (6.66), Mayookha Johnu (6.64), M Prajusha, Nayana James and Ancy Sojan (6.55) to be behind Anju Bobby George (6.83m) in the all-time list.
She went past the Asian Games standard set by Athletics Federation of India, but fell 9cm short of the 2023 World Championships qualifying mark.
Shaili’s domination was so complete that each of her four valid jumps was good enough to get her the gold ahead of Nayana James’s best effort of 6.53m.
Her series read 6.58m, foul, 6.76m, 6.64m, foul and 6.66.
It was a demonstration of coach Bobby George’s assertion that her ward was ready to claim the national record sooner than later.
Amlan Borgohain would not mind conceding the spotlight to her but the way he left the opposition in his wake in the 200m was also creditable.
The Assam sprinter now owns the three fastest times by an Indian in the half-lapper. He set the national record of 20.52 seconds in the Federation Cup in Kozhikode last year and clocked 20.55 at the National Games in Gandhinagar in October last.
Jyothi Yarraji (Andhra Pradesh), the rising track star, lost out on a chance to attain a sprint double when she was disqualified for a foul start in 100m. However, she overcome that shock and disappointment to win the 200m with a measure of comfort against Archana Suseendran (Tamil Nadu).
Running a 200m after a year, she finished in a personal best time of 23.60 seconds.
Trailing in the fifth place at the bell, Krishan Kumar (Haryana) caught up with race leader Abhishek Pal (Uttar Pradesh) with just 10m left to the beam and used his long strides to break the favourite’s will over the last couple of meters.
Considering that it was only his first 1500m race at the national level after doing well in the 800m, Krishna Kumar was impressive in his victory.
DP Manu (Karnataka) and Rohit Yadav (Uttar Pradesh) produced a classy men’s javelin throw contest, slinging five throws over the 80m mark between them.
Manu had the two best throws of the evening and won the crown with a best effort of 84.33m. Shivpal Singh (Uttar Pradesh) marked his return to competition with a best effort of 79.70m on his second try.
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