Indian Grand Prix 4 2023 athletics: Shaili Singh records second-best leap after Anju Bobby George, clinches long jump gold
Apr 16, 2023
Bangalore (Karnataka) [India], April 16 : Long jumper Shaili Singh made the second-best effort by an Indian after legendary Anju Bobby George, hitting a mark of 6.76 m 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 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 m by the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), as per Olympics.com.
The 19-year-old made improvement in her personal best by 28 cm at Karnataka's Sree Kanteerava Stadium, helping her surpass Aishwarya Babu (6.73m), JJ Shobha and V Neena (6.66m), Mayookha Johnu (6.64m), M Prajusha, Nayana James and Ancy Sojan (6.55m) in the list of best long jumps by an Indian woman. Anju Bobby George is still at the top with a 6.83 m 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 only clinch a gold, but also breach 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 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.
Jyothi Yarraji, who has a national record in 110 m hurdles, emerged victorious in the women's 200 m race event while the men's javelin throw event saw competition between Manu DP and Rohit Yadav.
Manu won gold with his best throw of 84.33 m, which is the world-leading-effort in the discipline this year. Rohit Yadav (81.81 m) and Shivpal Singh (79.70 m) clinched silver and bronze respectively. These three results were above the Asian Games qualifying standard.
Olympian Tajinderpal Singh Toor clinched gold in men's shot put.
The fourth Grand Prix featured 21 events - 11 for men and 10 for women.
