Anju Bobby George is upbeat about the national federation’s plans and expressed confidence that the country would improve on its tally of 29 medals in athletics at the Hangzhou Asian Games.
“… as an administrator, I am enjoying. We have got multiple world-level medals, and in most of the events we are performing well. It’s [India’s medals tally in athletics] going to be somewhere between 30 and 32. I guess that is a realistic number,” Anju, in her second term as senior vice-president of AFI, told The Hindu in a virtual interaction on Thursday.
Anju’s long-standing national record of 6.83m (at the 2004 Athens Olympics) was erased by Ancy Sojan in June at the inter-State meet in Bhubaneswar, when the 25-year-old recorded 6.88m. The 49-year-old strongly felt that long-jumpers Ancy and Shaili Singh could take the top two positions in the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.
“Both are actually pushing each other. During my time, there was no one in the country to push me. I was always competing abroad. But the great part for them is they have good competitors in India. They are pushing each other and are actually at their peak this season. We are expecting medals from both—nothing less than that,” said Anju, who was a gold medallist at the 2002 Busan Games.
The emergence of young athletes, who have gone on to do well at international the level, was due to AFI’s extensive focus on grassroots development, she said.
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Published – September 18, 2026 07:31 am IST
