Anju drops down to No. 8 in world rankings

Long jumper Anju Bobby George's below par performances this season got reflected in the latest world rankings as the Indian dropped down three places to the eighth spot.

The 28-year-old Anju, who finished fifth in the World Championships in Helsinki last week clearing 6.66m, had a total ranking score of 1199 points in the list headed by World silver medallist Tatyana Kotova of Russia.

Anju's leap in Helsinki was her best of the season that saw her falling below the 6.50m mark at Grand Prix meets in Doha, London and Stockholm. The efforts were well below her career best of 6.83m achieved at the Athens Olympics last August.

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This is also Anju's lowest ranking since 2003 when she climbed to No. 6 after winning the bronze medal in the Paris World Championships. For a brief while, she was also ranked No. 7 before touching a high of No. 5 last week.

World Champion Tianna Madison of USA jumped seven places to be fourth in the new list behind the Russian trio of Kotova, Irina Simagina and Tatyana Lebedeva. Madison's teammate Grace Upshaw also gained a place to be fifth and was followed by Cuban Yargelis Savigne and Russian Oksana Udmurtova.

The top ten in women's long jump:
1. Tatyana Kotova (RUS)     1289 points
2. Irina Simagina (RUS)        1245
3. Tatyana Lebedeva (RUS) 1237
4. Tianna Madison (USA)     1232
5. Grace Upshaw (USA)       1226
6. Yargelis Savigne (CUB)     1206
7. Oksana Udmurtova (RUS) 1202
8. Anju Bobby George (IND) 1199
9. Carolina Kluft (SWE)        1191
10. Elva Goulbourne (JAM)      1182