Anju Bobby George expects India to better Hangzhou athletics haul at Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games

Anju Bobby George said in a virtual interaction with The Hindu on Thursday that India can improve on its Hangzhou athletics haul of 29 medals at the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan. She forecasted the athletics medal total would be slightly higher than Hangzhou.

Anju, serving her second term as senior vice-president of the Athletics Federation of India (AFI), told The Hindu she was positive about the federation’s plans and the current crop of athletes. "... as an administrator, I am enjoying. We have got multiple world-level medals, and in most of the events we are performing well. It’s [India’s medals tally in athletics] going to be somewhere between 30 and 32. I guess that is a realistic number," she said.

Anju highlighted India’s strength in the long jump after her national record of 6.83m, set at the 2004 Athens Olympics, was broken in June. The 25-year-old Ancy Sojan recorded 6.88m at the inter-State meet in Bhubaneswar, erasing Anju’s long-standing mark.

She singled out Ancy and Shaili Singh as prime medal contenders for the Aichi-Nagoya Games and expressed confidence in their rivalry. "Both are actually pushing each other. During my time, there was no one in the country to push me. I was always competing abroad. But the great part for them is they have good competitors in India. They are pushing each other and are actually at their peak this season. We are expecting medals from both—nothing less than that," said Anju, who was a gold medallist at the 2002 Busan Games.

Anju attributed the rise of younger performers to AFI’s emphasis on development at the grassroots level, saying that investment there has produced athletes who have succeeded internationally. She also noted the federation’s broader satisfaction with recent world-level medals across multiple events.

Coverage details for the upcoming Asian Games were included in the source material: the Asian Games 2026 will be broadcast live and exclusively on Sony Sports Network and Sony LIV.

India’s athletics delegation will contest the Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan, where Anju expects a final athletics medal count in the range she specified.