Hangzhou Asian Games | Long jumper Ancy Sojan follows her own process to achieve success

Ancy Sojan follows her own process to achieve success, citing MS Dhoni's mantra of 'results over process'. Despite a setback, she persevered and won a silver medal at the Asian Games. She credits her mental conditioning trainer and her own discipline for her success. Ancy is now ready to take the stage, are you ready for her?

Long jumper Ancy Sojan has different playlists for various facets of her life. When she has to relax, she listens to Malayalam songs. Before the day of her jump events, she listens to English music and dances to get herself in the right frame of mind.

And after winning, as she did with her Asian Games silver medal on October 2, she will be dancing into the night to ‘Naa Ready Thaan Varava’ (I am ready, are you ready for me?) from actor Vijay’s upcoming flick Leo.

But for much of the year, despite her promise, not many were ready for Ancy to arrive on the stage.

In the build-up to the Asian Games and in recent times, it’s the junior Shaily Singh, who was earmarked to be the strongest Indian in the pit. Shaily’s personal best 6.76m jump at the start of the year and a silver at the Asian Athletics Championships, deservedly put the spotlight on her ahead of the girl from Thrissur.

For the 22-year-old Ancy, though, it was about sticking true to what she believes in and following it through. Simply following one’s process. She cited former India cricket team captain MS Dhoni’s oft-repeated words ‘results over process’ when making her point. Ancy is the latest of the current generation of Indian sports stars, who have adopted Dhoni’s approach of getting the basics rights and not worrying about the uncontrollable.

“I just told myself, whatever happens, I will do my process. If I’m a medallist, not a medallist (doesn’t matter). Just trust in my process. And that is working. And I’m also very thankful for my mental conditioning trainer.

“Once Dhoni said that whatever you are training, ensure you put that into your performance. You just concentrate on what you can do. I just focused on a good run and a good take-off. I gave that and got a good performance. This is my process,” she explained at the Hangzhou Olympic Stadium after the final.