Just by 1cm, Indian long jumper Shaili Singh missed out on a gold medal at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi on Sunday. The 17-year-old jumped 6.59m in the third attempt registering her best show and bagged silver while Sweden's Maja Askag won gold with a jump of 6.60m.
The young girl from Jhansi was spotted by Robert Bobby George and she then joined the Anju Bobby Sports Foundation in 2017 as a 14-year-old.
While she did settle for silver, the athlete was showered with praises from netizens and former athletes.
"Many congratulations, Shaili! You came so close to Gold today, and I'm sure you have a long way to go Congratulations to @anjubobbygeorg1 ma'am for your mentorship and guidance to Shaili," Tokyo 2020 gold medalist Neeraj Chopra tweeted.
Many congratulations, Shaili! You came so close to Gold today, and I'm sure you have a long way to go Congratulations to @anjubobbygeorg1 ma'am for your mentorship and guidance to Shaili https://t.co/05W7FPBfsV
— Neeraj Chopra (@Neeraj_chopra1) August 22, 2021
Shaili's silver came after she had two mediocre 6.34 jumps. The under-18 world No. 2 then went on to produce the big one that bettered her personal best by 11cm.
It had carried her to the top briefly before European champion Askag came with the 6.60 that would bring her the second gold of the championships after her triple jump triumph earlier.
Shaili is first silver medalist in long jump at the under-20 Worlds while Anju's 2003 Worlds long jump bronze is India's lone medal at the 'senior' Worlds.
As for the competition, this was India's third medal at the showpiece event. India had already won bronze in the 4x400m mixed relay team event and a silver by Amit Khatri in the 10,000m racewalking event.