India's ace long jumper Anju George stole the limelight at the Jim Bush Southern California athletics championship on Sunday, emerging winner and creating a new meet record in the event.
In a statement from Chennai on Monday, Tamil Nadu Amateur Athletics Association president W I Davaram said Anju, currently training under world record holder Mike Powell in the United States, leaped to a distance of 6.65 metres, pushing Akiba McKinneuy (6.36 metres) of the Higher Performance Club to second place and Tatyana Obukava (6.31 metres) of the University Sports Club to third.
According to Bobby George, Anju's husband and coach, the 25-year-old Anju had two jumps of 6.65 metres in her third and fourth attempts.
She cleared 6.43 metres and 6.37 metres in the first and second attempts, which were better than the jumps of the silver and bronze medalists.
"I am really thrilled about the steady progress that I am showing. My first goal is to cross the 6.70 metre mark before the World Cup. Once this happens I am confident of winning a medal in the World Cup," Anju said.
Anju, who won the gold medal at the Busan Asian Games, is training under Powell in the hope of realising her dream of winning a medal for India at the 2004 Athens Olympics.
She also won a bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002.
Anju, who started her training in North California from April 25, in preparation for the World Cup in Paris in August, was ranked 13th in the world in March after finishing seventh in the World indoor championship in Birmingham (6.40 m).
On May 10 she won a gold medal with a neat clearance of 6.47 metres, relegating favourites Pamela Simpson (6.44m) and Heather Sterlin (6.30m) to silver and bronze respectively in the Modesto Open Championship in North California. This was the first championship that Anju competed in after reaching the U.S.
