New Delhi, Aug 25
Shaili Singh’s progress as an athlete has a lot to do with her coach Robert Bobby George but it was her “strong and determined” mother, who helped her daughter take first big leap when she sent her to Bengaluru for training, much against the ‘advice’ of well-wishers. The 17-year-old Shaili was raised by her mother with great difficulty at a village near Parichha Thermal Power Station in Jhansi district in Uttar Pradesh.Her mother Vinitha works as a tailor to feed her three children and pays around Rs 3000 per month as rent for the two-room accommodation.“I faced a lot of problem when I started (athletics), regarding diet and many other things,” Shaili said at a felicitation function for the Indian athletes who won medals at the World U-20 Championships in Nairobi. “When Anju madam called me to train at Bengaluru, many people in our place told my mother why are you sending your daughter alone to a city. But she told them ‘she is my daughter, I know her and I am sending her’. “My mother is very strong and determined. As I grow up under her care, I got a lot of confidence and things become easier for me,” said Shaili.
Shaili, who jumped 6.59m to win silver, was spotted by legendary long jumper Anju Bobby George, India’s only medallist in World Championships, at the age of 13.
On the advice of her husband Robert, Anju personally went to see Shaili during the National Inter-State District Junior Athletics Meet (NIDJAM) at Visakhapatnam in November 2017 and took the youngster under her wings in April 2018.
Shaili, who used to run barefoot and had blisters on her feet as her mother could not afford shoes for her, has been coached by Robert since then at the Sports Authority of India Centre in Bengaluru.
Asked what she felt when Anju called her to train in Bengaluru, Shali said, “I was very excited, and how can I say no to Madam. It was something which I knew is for my good and I have been waiting for that, I got ready and my mother was very happy.” “I was struggling (to continue the sport) but things completely changed after coming to Bangalore. It became a new life for Shaili.” A class X student at St Patrick’s School in Bengaluru, Shaili said she missed her examination while taking part in competitions.“I was to appear for class X examination but I missed it as I had to go for competition,” she said.Shaili’s elder sister is pursuing B.Com third year and her younger brother studies in class 6.
Asked what she felt during the victory ceremony in Nairobi, she said, “Her (gold medal winner’s) flag was going up but I was looking at only our national flag and it was going up. Even if it was second position, for me it is first position.”
