Anju Bobby George is upbeat about the national federation\u2019s plans and expressed confidence that the country would improve on its tally of 29 medals in athletics at the Hangzhou Asian Games.<\/p>\n
\u201c… as an administrator, I am enjoying. We have got multiple world-level medals, and in most of the events we are performing well. It\u2019s [India\u2019s medals tally in athletics] going to be somewhere between 30 and 32. I guess that is a realistic number,\u201d Anju, in her second term as senior vice-president of AFI, told The Hindu in a virtual interaction on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Anju\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cBoth 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\u2014nothing less than that,\u201d said Anju, who was a gold medallist at the 2002 Busan Games.<\/p>\n
The emergence of young athletes, who have gone on to do well at international the level, was due to AFI\u2019s extensive focus on grassroots development, she said.<\/p>\n
(Watch Asian Games 2026 live and exclusive on Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV).<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n