Indian Open Jumps: Nayana James trumps Shaili in women's long jump

Seasoned long jumper Nayana James registered her new personal best to clinch the gold medal at the 3rd Indian Open Jumps competition at Anju Bobby High Performance Center, Bengaluru on Wednesday.

Nayana jumped 6.67m in her second attempt to better her previous personal best of 6.55m. 

U20 World Championships silver medalist Shaili Singh came up with a season-best 6.40m jump to clinch the silver medal while Sushmita recorded a jump of 6.28m to finish on the podium.

In the absence of Asian Games medalist Ancy Sojan, it was a clear battle between Nayana and Shaili for the top two places. However, both athletes failed to come close to the Olympic qualification mark of 6.86m.

A protege of India's best long jumper Anju Bobby George, Shaili started with a 6.35m jump and improved it to 6.38m and 6.40m in subsequent attempts. However, she failed to gain a strong footing and looked very unsettled in the last two jumps recording 6.02m and 6.10.

On the other hand, Nayana James started with confidence despite her first attempt being a foul. In her second attempt, Nayana jumped 6.67m.

She recorded two more jumps of 6.64m and 6.48m displaying her consistency and good form. This was the second tournament for Nayana in the year as she started her season at the Asian Indoor Championships with the best jump of 6.23m.

She won the silver medal last year at the 37th National Games in Goa with a best jump of 6.52m.