Anju Bobby George is a retired Indian athlete. Anju Bobby George made history when she won the bronze medal in long jump at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris. With this achievement, she became the first Indian athlete ever to win a medal in a World Championships in Athletics jumping 6.70 metres (22.0 ft). She went on to win the gold medal at the IAAF World Athletics Final in 2005, a performance she considers her best. Anju was upgraded to the gold status from silver in the 2005 World Athletics Final in Monte Carlo following the disqualification of Tatyana Kotova of Russia by the International Association of Athletics Federations, following the recent re-testing of the latter's sample collected at the 2005 World Championship in Helsinki. She was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2002, Khel Ratna in 2003 and Padma Shri in 2004. She had got 5th position with personal best of 6.83 metres (22.4 ft) at the 2004 Athens Olympics. In March 2021, Anju won the BBC lifetime achievement award for best athlete in India. She is also the current vice-president of the Athletics Federation of India.
Suresh Babu was an Indian long jumper from Kerala who had held the national titles in the long, triple, and high jump events, in addition to the decathlon. Suresh Babu dominated the scene between 1972 and 1979, winning national titles in the jumps and decathlon and at the same time picking his event for laurels on the international arena. He was one of the athletes to win medals in two events in successive Asian Games, the bronze in the decathlon in the Tehran Asian Games in 1974 and a gold in the long jump in the Bangkok Asian Games, 1978.
Mayookha Johny is an Indian track and field athlete from Kerala who specialises in long jump and triple jump. She holds the current Indian National record for triple jump with a mark of 14.11 m. She is the first Indian woman to cross the fourteen-metre mark.
OGQ is a program of the Foundation for Promotion of Sports and Games, a Not for Profit Company, which is committed to bridging the gap between the best athletes in India and the best athletes in the world thus helping Indian athletes to win Olympic Gold medals.
Sudha Singh is an Indian Olympic athlete in the 3000 metres steeplechase event. A national record holder in the event, she has represented India at international events since 2005. Singh is an Asian Champion in the discipline and has won two gold and four silver medals at varying editions of the Asian Games and the continental championships.
The Women's Long jump of the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships was held on 7 July 2011 in the Kobe Universiade Memorial Stadium of Kobe, Japan. In the women's long jump event, 14 athletes from the seven nations and one Chinese SAR participated. The gold medal was won by the Indian athlete Mayookha Johny with a best jump of 6.56 meters. Yuliya Tarasova of Uzbekistan, the current Asian leader of the event with a jump of 6.68 meters, failed to win a medal and finished fourth with a best jump of 6.37 meters. Another favorite, South Korean Jung Soon-Ok—with a personal best of 6.76 meters—also failed to finish on the podium. Her best jump of 6.12 meters was not even good enough for her to reach the last eight in the competition.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
Kumaravel Premkumar is an Indian long jumper from Tamil Nadu. He is the national record-holder in both the indoor and outdoor long jump. He won a bronze medal at the 2012 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships and a silver at the 2013 Asian Athletics Championships.
Sports in Andhra Pradesh has its own importance, where many sporting personalities were into limelight. The Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP) undertakes the sports development activities such as construction of stadiums, establishment of sports academies and other sporting related activities. The sports infrastructure have increased tremendously by improving infrastructure in outdoor and Indoor stadiums, play fields, sports academies, sports equipments etc. Traditional sports such as kho kho, kabaddi are played mostly in Andhra Pradesh.Most sports players from Andhra pradesh represent national level competitions and very few international competitions.
Varun Singh Bhati is a para high jumper from India. He was afflicted by poliomyelitis at a young age, and joined sports during his school days. He has won several medals in international events including bronze at 2016 Summer Paralympic Games and 2017 World Para Athletics Championships.
Nayana James is an Indian athlete competing in the long jump event.
Tejaswin Shankar is an Indian athlete who competes in the decathlon event. He holds the high jump national record of 2.29 metres set in April 2018.
Pranati Mishra is an Indian athlete. She won a silver medal in 4 × 400 m relay in the 1990 Asian Games. The four member relay team comprised P. T. Usha, K. Saramma, Shantimol Philips besides Pranati.
Murali Sreeshankar is an Indian athlete who competes in the long jump event. He created a national record of 8.36 metres set in 2022.
Ajeet Singh Yadav is an Indian Para Athlete who competes in men's javelin throw, in F-46 category. Ajeet was included in Sports Authority of India Government of India program under Target Olympic Podium Scheme, and also currently being supported by the Olympic Gold Quest. He is pursuing his PhD in physical education and sports from LNIPE Gwalior. He made his Paralympic debut representing India at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
Nishad Kumar is an Indian paralympian and high jumper. He made his first Paralympic Games appearance in 2020 Tokyo representing India and went onto claim silver medal in the men's high jump T47 category with a new Asian record of 2.06m. In the 2022 Asian Para Games, he won a gold medal in the men's high jump T47 at Hangzhou, China. He is currently being supported by OGQ.
India has participated in the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. Their first ever medal was a Bronze medal won by Anju Bobby George in 2003 in Paris; in the Women's long jump discipline.
Jyothi Yarraji is an Indian track and field athlete from Andhra Pradesh. She specializes in 100 metre hurdles and holds the Indian national record. She broke the long-standing record by Anuradha Biswal on 10 May 2022 clocking 13.23s. She has broken the record multiple times ever since.
Sheena Nellickal Varkey, or N.V. Sheena, is an Indian athlete from Kerala. She competes in triple jump event. She is named in the Indian athletics team for the women's triple jump event for the 2022 Asian Games at Hangzhou, China. She won a silver medal at the Asian Indoor Championships in 2018.
