She is just 19, and the way she is performing she can easily touch 7 metres and go beyond that which is enough to seal a medal at least, if not gold at the Olympics. Galina Chistyakova holds the world record (7.52 metres) for women’s long jump
Moments after the Indian long jumper Shaili Singh won a bronze medal at the Golden Grand Prix 2023 athletics meet in Yokohama, Japan in the women’s long jump event, former world championship bronze medalist long jumper Anju Bobby George said that her disciple Shaili Singh can get the first-ever Olympic medal for the country in a couple of years. Did she mean, the 2024 Paris Olympics or will we have to wait for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is a question everyone is curious to know the answer of.
She is just 19, and the way she is performing she can easily touch 7 metres and go beyond that which is enough to seal a medal at least, if not gold at the Olympics. Galina Chistyakova holds the world record (7.52 metres) for women’s long jump.
Earlier this year, Shaili had taken a leap of 6.76m at the Indian Grand Prix. This has been the second-best ever jump by an Indian athlete ever. It is Anju Bobby George who held the national record of 6.83m while participating at the Athens Olympics in 2004.
“For a 19-year-old, the distance she has jumped is incredible. At 19, she jumped 6.76m. She is a rare talent and we have to groom her very carefully so that she becomes one of the world’s best when she matures,” Anju said.
Anju added that Shaili has to get into the grind of participating at the world level and give her best performance. And, she will soon be at the top.
It was Anju who first spotted Shaili at the age of 13 in 2017. Born in Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh to Vinita Singh soon after Anju took her under her wings and from there, there hasn’t been any looking back.
At present, Shaili is training under Robert who too is a high-performance coach at the Sports Authority of India SAI at the National Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.