Anju Bobby George hopes athletes from her academy will reach Olympic podium someday
Asian Games gold medallist Anju Bobby George is of the belief that talented athletes from her academy will reach the Olympic podium someday. Anju has assured that her team at the academy not only trains and grooms the next generation athletes but also takes care of their overall development.
Asian Games gold medallist Anju Bobby George remains the only Indian athlete to date to win a senior athletics World Championship medal (long jump bronze in Paris in 2003). She is currently focused on grooming the next generation of Indian athletes after making the transition from athlete to coach. The Anju Bobby sports foundation was inaugurated in 2015 and since then Anju and her family have been working towards the goal of setting up their own academy in Bengaluru to train and produce future champions. Recently, the Sports ministry sanctioned Rs 5 Crore for Anju's academy which will go a long way in helping build Anju's dream.
"We started our academy long back in 2015. The Anju Bobby sports foundation we registered the same year. We took 5-6 kids and started training in the SAI centre instead of waiting for the stadium. The training process is the key. We gave a proposal to the Ministry last year and because of the elections it took a little more time. The 5 Crore is for the synthetic track. We need to build more facilities, for that we need to find other sources." Anju told TimesofIndia.com.
The meeting with union sports minister Kiren Rijiju came of great help for Anju and her team. It also reassured her that she can look to the Ministry of Sports for support regarding her academy. Anju currently has five trainees as part of her foundation and aims to increase that number eventually to thirty once the academy is fully functional. The trainees currently stay at the SAI centre in Bengaluru with their training process already underway, Anju will commence the talent scouting process soon.
The academy is training athletes for the 100m, 100m hurdles, pole vault, long jump, and triple jump events. Anju and her team take in kids in the age group of 12-18 as trainees and the big challenge apart from maintaining a good training schedule, of course, is to make sure the kids' education is not neglected.Â
"We will take care of their education and overall development. Boarding, lodging, food, international travel, A to Z we will take care of. Once they are inside our academy, no need to worry. Those who show good talent can maybe reach the Olympic podium someday," Anju asserted.Â
An Indian winning an Olympic medal in athletics is still a dream that many in the Indian sports fraternity have. While that might still be a distant dream, Anju is confident someone from her academy itself will break her long jump National record (6.83m) which she created at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Like Shaili Singh, a 15-year-old from Uttar Pradesh, who has been making waves in the junior circuit, has been tagged as someone who has the potential to be the next Anju Bobby George. In November last year, Shaili set a new junior national record at the National Junior Championships in Ranchi as she leapt a distance of 5.94m to clinch the gold medal in the u-16 girls' long jump event. Anju is most excited about Shaili, who she feels has the potential to do great things.
"We got her last year. She only started training one and a half years back. Now she is only 15. She is currently world number 2 (junior). We are trying her in long jump and 100m. We are aiming for 2024, by then I think she can break my long jump national record. By that time she will be 20. She can also definitely become the second Indian to win an athletics World Championship medal," Anju concluded.