The Hindu : Sport / Athletics : All eyes on Anju

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 22, 2006

Sport

Sport - Athletics

All eyes on Anju

MELBOURNE: Long jumper Anju Bobby George will aim to brush aside the disappointment of the recent Moscow indoor world championships when she opens her Commonwealth Games campaign here on Wednesday.

The 28-year-old, a bronze medallist in Manchester four years ago, is in Group `A' in the qualifying round, along with defending champion Elva Goulbourne of Jamaica who has a personal best of 7.16m.

Only two athletes, Elva Goulbourne and Australian favourite Bronwyn Thompson (7m), have a personal best which is better than Anju's 6.83m. The Indian, however, has not come anywhere close to the mark this season and has now dropped a rung, to No. 5, in the World rankings. She also failed to qualify for the final at Moscow.

Bronwyn, who is in Group `B' along with England's Jade Johnson, the silver medallist at the Manchester Games, has the best performance among the Melbourne jumpers this season with a 6.67m.

The automatic qualification mark in the women's long jump in Melbourne is 6.50m. In case jumpers fail to cross that mark, the 12 best performers will qualify for Friday evening's final.

Women's long jump groupings (with personal best in brackets):

Group A: Anju Bobby George (Ind, 6.83m), Chinedu Onikeku (Ngr, 6.30), Rosina Amenebede (Gha), Elva Goulbourne (Jam, 7.16), Lisa Morrison (Aus, 6.43), Tanika Liburd (Skn, 6.56), Chantal Brunner (NZ, 6.68), Tricia Flores (Biz, 5.65), Soko Salaniqiqi (Fij, 5.77) and Foujia Huda (Ban, 6.07).

Group B: Jade Johnson (Eng, 6.51m), Marion Bangura (Sle), Kerrie Taurima (Aus), Celine Laporte (Sey), Jacqueline Edwards (Bah, 6.65), Shara Proctor (Ang, 6.24), Esther Aghatise (Ngr, 6.60), Arantxa King (Ber, 6.39), Gillian Cooke (Sco, 6.33) and Bronwyn Thompson (Aus, 6.67).

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