Shaili’s potential to the fore

Wins long jump in style; Gurindervir, Dhanalakshmi fastest

Shaili Singh proved that her reputation as the next big thing in Indian athletics was not misplaced, the 6.48m leap giving her the long jump gold in the National inter-State athletics championships on Saturday. but the 17-year old is focused firmly on the World Junior Championships later this year. The jump will place the 17-year-old in the joint top spot in the IAAF rankings in the Under-18 category this year. Training under Anju and Bobby George, Shaili is expected to be a strong medal contender at the World juniors in Kenya in August. It wasn’t as happy a homecoming for high-jumper Tejaswin Shankar, however, as he could only do 2.20m in his first meet at home in three years. Although it was good enough for gold, it was his lowest jump this season.