The Hindu : Sport : Anju plans a big surprise

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Sep 27, 2005

Sport

Sport

Anju plans a big surprise

Stan Rayan

Anju Bobby George has set her sights high.

KOCHI: We thought she had dusted off her Nike spikes and placed her kit bag on the loft. But now, a few days after pulling down the curtains for the season, Anju George appears to have a change of heart.

"I'll be resuming training soon in Bangalore. And I'll be taking part in the Open Nationals in Hyderabad in November," said the ace long jumper.

Sounded strange.

After struggling through a major part of the season and then finishing it splendidly with a silver medal at the Monaco World athletics final, one expected Anju to rest her legs for some time.

Probably, catch up with the family gossip, going around with her hubby Robert Bobby George ... enjoy late mornings...

New goal

But Anju has a new goal in sight and it's quite a surprising one too. "I'm looking at 6.70 m or more in Hyderabad. That should give me some very crucial points. It should help my rankings in a big way," said the World No.4.

For those of you who've been waltzing around the Sania Mirza show, here's something more to celebrate in Indian sport. Anju, now enjoying her career-best ranking, is just two points below the Russian World No. 3 Oksana Udmurtova and seven away from World No. 2, American Grace Upshaw in IAAF's current world rankings list.

Clearly, the country's most famous athlete has a chance to finish the year as the World No. 3, even higher if she lands a big one.

"If she jumps around 6.70 she could be in the top three and 6.80 could even make her the World No. 2," said her husband, coach and chief motivator Bobby George.

If Anju achieves her new goal, she would be the first Indian to gain such a high world ranking. It could also bring in a big bonus from Nike, her sponsor.

Golden year?

One can understand her hunger. Anju had not been an early bird this season. A late start to her training meant that she was not in the best of form for a major part.

But she had her reasons for the delay. "For three years, from 2002 to 2004, I had a continuous stretch of training and competitions. I could feel my body systems getting weak. That's why I had to start late this season. But it has affected me," she said.

"Also, I had problems with the Bangalore weather between May and July this year. I train in the open and the dust troubles me a lot during these months," said Anju.

"I missed a couple of major meets this season which would have brought me a lot of points," said the 28-year-old.

Now, she wants to make up lost time.

"I want to start early next season. I'm not even planning a break after this season. I'll be training continuously because we have two major meets early next year, the Indoor Worlds in Moscow and the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in March," said the Asian Games and Asian champion.

"In fact, we have five big meets next year. It's going to be a very long season with the Asiad in Doha in December. I'll be competing in some 25 meets," she said.

"And that magical mark of seven metres could either come at the beginning of the season or in the Asian Games," she said.

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