Highly-gifted long jumper Shaili Singh on Sunday (August 22) overlooked out on scripting history by a mere 1 cm because the Indian settled for silver medal in the U-20 World Athletics Championships in Nairobi. The 17-12 months-ragged Indian’s non-public simplest effort of 6.59m used to be no longer enough for the gold medal as she used to be pipped on the post by Sweden’s reigning European junior champion Maja Askag, who managed 6.60m for the top build on the closing day of the championships.
A protege of legendary long jumper Anju Bobby George, Shaili used to be main on the discontinue of the third spherical however the 18-12 months-ragged Swede overtook her in the fourth spherical by a mere 1 cm, which proved to be decisive in the discontinue. Mariia Horielova of Ukraine took the bronze with a simplest soar of 6.50m.
“I could comprise jumped farther than the 6.59m and obtained the gold. My mother had told me a few hit gold and nationwide anthem being sung in the stadium (but I could not construct it),” an emotional Shaili acknowledged after the speed.
“I am correct 17, I desire a gold in subsequent U20 World Championships (in Cali, Colombia). There could be Asian Games and Commonwealth Games subsequent 12 months and I want to construct effectively in those events.”
Tokyo Olympics gold medallist and ragged U20 champion Neeraj Chopra praised Shaili for her efforts as effectively. “Many congratulations, Shaili! You came so conclude to Gold nowadays, and I’m sure you comprise a protracted come to run. Congratulations to @anjubobbygeorg1 ma’am to your mentorship and steerage to Shaili,” Chopra tweeted.
Many congratulations, Shaili! You came so conclude to Gold nowadays, and I’m sure you comprise a protracted come to run
Congratulations to @anjubobbygeorg1 ma’am to your mentorship and steerage to Shaili https://t.co/05W7FPBfsV— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 22, 2021
Requested how she started her athletics profession, Shaili acknowledged, “I used to be doing some running right here when I used to be at school. Then I went to a hostel in Lucknow and my mother asked me if I am attracted to athletics. I acknowledged sure and I joined hostel (in Lucknow) in September 2017 after which camp in 2018.”
Her coach Robert Bobby George acknowledged she had a puny of a technical downside whereas ‘landing’, in every other case she would comprise obtained the gold. “She used to be weeping (after the tournament), she knew she could comprise obtained the gold. There used to be a puny of a technical downside whereas landing, in every other case she could comprise cleared 6.65m or even 6.70m,” acknowledged George.
“It is the first time she is never any longer a hit a gold in any competition. She (Shaili) hates silver and she or he is the huge thing after Neeraj Chopra. She can rule nationwide circuit in the subsequent few years and global circuit after that.”
Requested how long Shaili can also have interaction to earn past his wife Anju Bobby George’s 2003 World Championships bronze a hit model of 6.83m, Robert acknowledged, “I feel she can construct it in three years time, in 2024 or even sooner than that.
“Her journey is her uniqueness. She is correct 17 and I am watching for her to point out 18. By that time, I am going to work so to add more vitality to her. She can almost definitely be a medal contender in Asian Games and Commonwealth Games subsequent 12 months. She can almost definitely be in U20 World Championships (in Cali, Colombia) subsequent 12 months and could even qualify for the senior World Championships (in Eugene, USA). She is in that range.”
India ended their campaign with a simplest ever medal haul of 2 silver and 1 bronze, though the country had obtained one gold every in the sooner two editions — by Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra (2016) and quartermiler Hima Das (2018).
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet and 10,000m speed walker Amit Khatri had earlier obtained a bronze and a silver respectively on this championships. Shaili started brightly with a 6.34m and repeated the an identical distance subsequent sooner than her simplest effort in the third spherical. Her subsequent two attempts were fouls and she or he could not earn past the 6.60m in her closing soar and the teen looked as if it would possibly perchance perchance perchance be distraught at lacking a gold and a guess to make history.
Shaili, contrivance about surely one of the principal brightest upcoming stars in Indian athletics, had topped the qualification spherical on Friday with a simplest soar of 6.40m. The Jhansi-born athlete, who used to be raised by a single mother who worked as a tailor, currently trains on the academy of Anju Bobby George in Bengaluru. She is coached by Anju’s husband Robert.
“It used to be on the commence hard for my mother to spice up three of us (siblings) but she know I will construct effectively and get medals,” Shaili acknowledged.
She had obtained the females’s long soar tournament on the Nationwide (Senior) Inter-Suppose Championships in June with an effort of 6.48m, her old non-public simplest. She is the contemporary U-18 world No. 2 and U-20 nationwide file holder.
In males’s triple soar, Donald Makimairaj overlooked the bronze by 3 cm – he produced his non-public simplest of 15.82m but needed to be reveal with a fourth-situation construct. Gabriel Wallmark of Sweden obtained the gold with a simplest soar of 16.43m whereas Jaydon Hibbert (16.05m) of Jamaica and Simon Gore (15.85m) of France took the silver and bronze respectively.
The Indian females’s 4x400m relay team of Payal Vohra, Summy, Rajitha Kunja and Priya Mohan also performed fourth with a season simplest timing of three: 40.45.
(with PTI inputs)
