KERALA SCHOOL GAMES

India's leading long jumper aims to emulate Anju, but finds her sport in peril in Kerala

For the first time this season, India's leading long jumper, Ancy Sojan, seemed uncomfortable next to a take-off board. To be clear, she wasn't competing. Ancy was present at the Maharaja's College ground in Ernakulam Saturday evening to coach her younger sister, Anjali E S, one of the finalists in the senior girls' event.

Each time an athlete, including her beloved sibling, went over the board, Ancy frowned. Her disappointment flashed in big block numbers on a display placed starkly opposite.

Between a pair of officials posted by the side of the pit, she could see two parallel yellow cones kept at 6.24 metres. That was the Meet Record she had set in 2019 while studying at Government Fisheries HSS at Nattika in Thrissur.

On Saturday, none of the eight finalists came anywhere close to challenging her record; the best was an average jump of 5.54 m reached by Akhila Mol K of GV Raja Sports School, Thiruvananthapuram, for which she took gold in the event. Her sister, the left knee strapped, indicating a minor injury, finished with a best jump of 5.10 m.

"Very disappointed," said Ancy, whose 6.71 metres set in September at the Open Nationals in Bengaluru is the leading jump by an Indian this season. That was also the third-best jump by an Indian woman after Anju Bobby George's long-standing 6.83 m and Shaili Singh's 6.76m.

"In the North (of the country), people say, we in the South have so many good young jumpers. It doesn't seem like that," Ancy said. She wasn't sure what could be ailing the current set of jumpers. "Is it issues with training or lack of commitment, I'm not sure, but I was hoping to find some really good competition here today."

Since her school days, Ancy has made steady progress, which she is quite proud of. In 2020, she improved her personal best to 6.34 m, and by 2023, she was consistently jumping over 6.50m, making her one of the favourites in national events. Last October, she topped it with a PB of 6.63m to claim the silver medal in the Asian Games.

By the start of this year, she had established herself as a worthy member of a triumvirate featuring fellow Malayali Nayana James and Shaili.

'Going for 7m'
Now 23, Ancy thinks she's yet to hit her peak. She already holds an edge over Nayana, who, at 29, continues to produce stellar performances nationally and has a PB of 6.67 m. Ancy must improve her PB to emulate Shaili (aged 21). But even then, she would have to scale the peak of 6.83 m, the national record set in 2004 by Anju, India's best-ever.

"I'm aiming for 7 metres. When I get there, quite naturally, I would have made the national record. In my mind, I have already gone past 7 metres, and now I just have to do it on the pit. Those who know me well know that I can do it."

To prove her point, Ancy wants to earn direct entry to the World Championships in Tokyo next year. For that, she must break the national record because the qualification mark, which has to be met before August 2025 is 6.86m, 3 centimetres better than Anju's historic mark. While Ancy is determined to walk the talk, it cannot be said the same about her successors, who cut a sorry figure in front of her tonight.