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‘Shaili will be fighting for a Commonwealth Games medal’
The Hindu
Not pushing her to qualify for senior Worlds, says her coach Bobby George
She was down with a back injury late last year and with COVID-19 in January, but young long jumper Shaili Singh is now back and perhaps better than ever before.
“Her speed and strength have improved. It’s a big factor when your speed improves, your body is free, you benefit a lot,” said Robert Bobby George, Shaili’s coach, in a chat with The Hindu on Thursday.
“In fact, in the 30m sprint, she has already achieved the target I had set for her. Now, we have to convert that speed into her jumps. We are working on her rhythm right now.”
Nine months after she won the under-20 World championships gold (with 6.59m), Shaili will be back on a competition runway at the Indian Grand Prix-4 in Bhubaneswar on May 24.
But don’t expect any major fireworks in the 18-year-old’s season opener.
“She started jumping very late, only in April, so she should be in the 6.40m to 6.50 range,” said Bobby who is moulding the country’s most exciting talent in Bengaluru’s Anju Bobby Centre of Excellence.
“The peak will come in June-July.”
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Asian Games champion Avinash Sable opened his season in the 3000m steeple chase with a silver in the Portland Track Festival, a World Athletics Continental Tour bronze event, in Oregon on Saturday. He clocked 8:21.85s. Asian champion Parul Chaudhary took the bronze in the women’s 3000m steeple chase in a season-best 9:31.38s. Former Asian bronze medallist Sanjivani Jadhav struck gold in the women’s 10,000m in 32:22.77s, a time which was a second off her personal best, while Seema was sixth in 32:55.91s.