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After she broke the long-standing record of long-jump legend Anju Bobby George, Ancy Sojan dedicated the record-breaking gold medal performance at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships to her father, saying that he wanted someone from the family to be a national record holder.
Sojan made history, smashing the 22-year-old national record in the discipline owned by legendary Anju Bobby George during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar on Saturday. In the long jump, Ancy, 25, made a sensational leap of 6.88 m, outdoing Anju's long-held national record of 6.83 m, which was made during the 2004 Athens Olympics Speaking as per a press release from the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), Sojan said that her goal was initially to outdo her personal best of 6.75 m recorded four weeks back. "My goal today was to record a personal best of 6.75m recorded four weeks ago in Ranchi," jubilant Ancy Sojan said. She began her record-breaking campaign with a jump of 6.73m. Her second jump was no mark. Her third jump was 6.67m, while her fourth jump was 6.72m. She was on cloud nine when the electronic scoreboard flashed 6.88m. Her last and sixth jump was 6.69m. Ancy Sojan dedicated her record-breaking gold medal performance to her father. "He wanted someone in the family to be a national record holder. The gold medal will be a precious gift to him," the elated long jumper said. Last year, she was struggling with health issues. She had to take a break. "It was mentally and physically challenging. I'm happy to have made a comeback that too ahead of the Aichi Nagoya Asian Games starting September 19," says Ancy Sojan. Maharashtra's seasoned high jumper Sarvesh Anil Kushare, 31, was the second athlete on Saturday who etched his name in record books as he improved the men's high jump record to 2.31m. The previous national record of 2.29m was set by Tejaswin Shankar in 2018. Sarvesh further raised the bar to 2.35m but wasn't successful. "I was feeling good. I got a big boost when I cleared 2.27m. Thereafter, I pushed and made an attempt to break the national record," says the newly crowned high jumper. He broke the national record on his third attempt. Away from the track, the men's 1500m meet record of 3:40.10 set by Bahadur Prasad in Chennai was also erased by Yoonus Shah of Uttar Pradesh. He clocked 3:37.55 secs. Yashas P also improved the meet record in the men's 400m hurdles. His winning time of 49.14 seconds was better than his previous record of 49.37 seconds. Several medal winners also achieved the Japan Asian Games qualification mark in their respective events. (ANI)
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