Shaili Singh: Anju Bobby George’s protege eyes a leap of faith at Asian Games | Asian Games 2026 News

NEW DELHI: The first thing Shaili Singh sees on the runway isn’t the crowd, the jumping board or even her rivals. It is a jump that has already happened.“When I stand on the runway, I can’t hear anything,” she says. “I can see the sand and the take-off. I know how to go step by step. I am in an imaginary world. I have already done that jump. After that, my body is going,” she told this outlet on the sidelines of the Indian Athletics Final Series at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi.The image neatly captures the 22-year-old’s journey. For years, Indian athletics has imagined Shaili as the heir to Anju Bobby George. Now, as she enters the women’s long jump qualification at the 2026 Asian Games on Friday, with the final scheduled a day later, imagination is beginning to meet reality.Alongside fellow Indian Ancy Sojan, Shaili arrives in Aichi-Nagoya as one of India’s medal hopes. More importantly, she arrives healthy — a word she repeats with unmistakable relief after spending much of her early career battling injuries.

A newspaper advertisement changed everything

Unlike many elite athletes who grow up chasing medals, Shaili almost stumbled into the sport.Her mother spotted a hostel trial advertisement for Lucknow’s KD Singh Babu Stadium in a newspaper in September 2017. Shaili, then a teenager with little understanding of athletics, decided to give it a shot.

“I had no idea about sports when I entered the game,” she recalls. “That was my first time entering sports.”She stayed at the stadium for five months before joining the Anju Bobby Sports Foundation (ABSF) in Bengaluru in February 2018. The move transformed her career almost instantly. Within eight months, she broke the national under-16 record. More records followed across the age groups.“Since then, I have broken each national record,” she says. “Even now, I am trying to break the senior record (held by Sojan).”

Did long jump choose her?

Shaili’s answer comes without hesitation.“I entered with 100m, high jump and long jump. I don’t know how, but my entry was cut from high jump to long jump. I had entered both events. I think long jump chose me,” she says with a smile.The romance of the discipline hasn’t faded despite years of competition.“I can’t explain the feeling of the sand. It’s like a child is left in the sand. I feel the same when I go there. I feel very happy,” she beams as she explains.That childlike joy is perhaps what legendary Anju Bobby George noticed first. India’s first World Athletics Championships medallist has mentored Shaili from the beginning, and the comparisons have only intensified as the youngster’s distances grew.In 2021, Shaili announced herself with a silver medal at the World U20 Championships. Since then, she has represented India at the World Championships, Commonwealth Games and the Paris Olympic cycle, steadily growing into senior athletics.

The centimetres that matter

Long jump is often decided by margins too small for spectators to notice. For Shaili, those centimetres have come through competition rather than rivalry. Her closest challenger is often the woman wearing the same India jersey.“Friendship, not rivalry,” she says of Ancy Sojan, who is a gold medal contender in the discipline. “I am very happy when we compete with each other. There should be someone on your side to push you further. Someone who jumps more than you and you jump more than them. I enjoy that a lot,” says Shaili.The healthy duel has helped elevate Indian women’s long jump, with both athletes consistently pushing beyond 6.50 metres on the domestic circuit.

Four years of pain

The distances, however, hide the struggles behind them. Shaili spent much of the last few years managing one injury after another: a back fracture in 2021, a toe fracture in 2022, and a persistent ankle problem in her take-off leg that lingered for years.“I was fighting with injuries for a long time,” she says. “Now I am totally fit mentally and physically.”Ask her what is harder — recovering from injury or chasing records — and the answer is immediate.“If you are physically fit, you can achieve anything. It doesn’t matter if you are doing less today. You will be in the same form tomorrow. You will beat yourself again. As long as you don’t get injured.”That restored fitness has translated into results. Last season, she surpassed Anju Bobby George’s long-standing Federation Cup meet record with a 6.64m leap, underlining both her form and her growing consistency heading into the Asian Games. Yet it was much lower than her personal best of 6.76m at the Indian Grand Prix in 2022.

The legend beside her

Looking up to someone like Anju Bobby George, who she is trying to emulate, could easily become overwhelming. Instead, Shaili treats it as reassurance.“Anju ma’am is the first athlete to win a medal in the World Championships. I am very inspired by her,” she says. “She motivates me every day. For an athlete, getting words of confidence from legends like her, mentors, coaches — that’s all that is needed.”The symbolism is difficult to ignore. More than two decades after Anju put Indian long jump on the global map, her protégé is chasing the biggest continental prize of her career.

Already landed in her mind

Most athletes visualise success. Shaili seems to inhabit it. Even the noise of a packed stadium becomes fuel rather than distraction.“I like the public,” she says. “I get energy from them. They motivate me a lot. Because of that, I can push a few centimetres more.”Those few centimetres could be the difference between finishing fourth and standing on the Asian Games podium.As she walks onto the runway in Aichi-Nagoya, Shaili Singh will carry the expectations of Indian athletics, the belief of her legendary mentor, and the confidence earned from overcoming years of physical setbacks.Her goal, though, remains remarkably uncomplicated. “I want to do my best,” she says. “I will be happy with what I do.”The perfect jump, after all, has already happened in her mind.