The 17-year-old long jumper bagged the silver medal for India at the under-20 world championships in Nairobi on Sunday.
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Legendary Indian long-jumper, Anju Bobby George, heaped on the praise for young athlete and pupil Shaili Singh on Monday. Anju said that Shaili was an athlete much like herself and that she would like Shaili to be the one who eventually breaks her record. Singh was only 13 at the time when she was taken under the tutelage of Anju. She had just come fifth in a national meet. Four years later, the 17-year-old long jumper bagged the silver medal for India at the under-20 world championships in Nairobi on Sunday. She was incredibly close to winning the gold medal as she missed out only by 1cm. Shaili recorded a jump of 6.59m to bag the prestigious silver medal.
She might not have won the gold medal at the competition like Olympic gold-medallist Neeraj Chopra or Hima Das in 2016 and 2018 respectively, but she is still being touted as one of the country’s brightest prospects for the future. Her mentor, Anju, said that she knew Shaili would go a long way when she saw her resolve. “When I saw her steely resolve and of course her body structure and muscle suited for long jump, I knew she would go a long way,” Anju said to Indian news agency PTI.
“Later, I found out that she is a fast learner, always tries to improve, has a never-say-die attitude. In short, she is more or less like me,” the 44-year-old added. Anju is an athlete who has bagged several accolades in the past and having a mentor like her would surely be instrumental in the 17-year-old’s development in the sport. George was a bronze medalist in the 2003 senior World Championships in Paris. Shaili had, in 2017 at the National Junior Championships in Vijayawada, recorded an impressive jump of 4.64m.
Her performance had caught the eye of Sports Authority of India (SAI) High Performance coach Robert Bobby George, who also happens to be Anju’s husband. “Robert told me about her (Shaili) though she finished at a lower rank (in Vijaywada). Then I myself went (to Visakhapatnam) and noticed that she would go a long way,” Anju said. “I saw her in November 2017 and decided to bring her under me and Robert and in April 2018, she joined SAI Center in Bengaluru. It is more due to Robert’s coaching ability that has turned Shaili into a future star,” she added.
The 44-year-old athlete still holds the national record for long jump at 6.83m. Given Shaili’s performance, it is highly likely that she will eventually break her mentor’s record. “She has tremendous potential and I am sure she will break it by then (in three years). I will be very happy if she breaks my record,” Anju said. “She is still learning and her techniques are yet to be perfect and that is natural for a 17-year-old. She will make improvements in her technique,” she added.
When asked about the immediate goals for the 17-year-old, Anju said, “She will go for gold in the next U20 World Championships and she is a medal contender in the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games next year.”
