Table of Contents
Introduction
Shaili Singh is probably the country’s best female triple jumper right now. Despite being only 19-year-old the Jhansi girl has hogged the limelight after winning the silver medal in the World Under-20 championship in Nairobi in the long jump, jumping 6.59 meters. She developed her mark by recording a giant leap of 6.76 meters in the Indian Grand Prix in Bangalore in March 2023. Shaili is trained by legendary Indian triple jumper Anju Bobby George and her husband Robert Bobby George at the Anju Bobby George Foundation center in Bangalore. Anju commented after Shali’s sparkling show in Indian Grand Prix that their student could overtake her achievement shortly. In her maiden international Grand Prix in Japan a couple of days ago, Shaili again acquired bronze jumping 6.65 meters.
Shaili’s determination
Shaili, returning from Nairobi with an Under-20 World Championship silver medal, revealed while speaking to the media that her mother Vinita used to call her almost every day. But one phone call amongst them gave the additional boost to change her career trajectory. Shaili,
“Normally my mother and I just speak about my training and how things are going, but that day I remember asking what her hopes for me were. She said, ‘I want everyone to know who Shaili Singh is.’”
Since the phone call around four years ago, Shaili has been a different girl, dedicating herself to her event through tireless hard work under the coach Robert Bobby George.
Robert divulged,
“Even a few weeks before she went to Japan Shaili was plagued by deadly Covid-19 and had to go on quarantine for around 12 days. She was staying alone in a room in the SAI hostel. I and Anju visited her every day and tried to motivate her. Shaili, despite being so weak, never looked frustrated. Rather she said she would come back.”
Robert’s hope
Robert Bobby George who gifted the legendary jumper like Anju Bobby George to the nation, sounded highly optimistic about Shali’s future. Speaking over the phone from Bangalore, Robert affirmed saying,
“Now Shaili is 19. She is winning a medal at the senior level already. I believe she will be a superstar in the Indian athletics fraternity when she will be 22 or 23 years old.”
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