HANGZHOU: Vijay's "Naa ready dha varava (I'm ready, are you ready for me?" from the movie, Leo, will be playing in at least one room inside the Athletes Village on Monday night. When Ancy Sojan listens to it, she will hum as well as dance to the song. She has probably earned it. In near-perfect track and field conditions, Ancy set a new personal best to win silver in the women's long jump.
Her mark of 6.63m was only bettered by China's Shiqi Xiong, whose 6.73m (also a personal best) led the rest of the field for half the competition. India's other hope in this discipline -- Shaili Singh -- was fifth with a best jump of 6.48m. As she made her way through the mixed zone and stopped half-heartedly to speak to the media, she broke down, clearly unhappy with her mark.
It was in sharp contrast to Ancy who just couldn't stop smiling. "Very happy with this performance," she said. "I'm sure I can do better. Already this season, I lost out on winning medals by close margins," the 22-year-old said. That's true. At the Asian Championships in Bangkok, an event where Shaili won silver, Ancy finished fourth. Her mark of 6.41m was 5cm below China's Zhong Jiawei's bronze-winning mark of 6.46cm.
That disappointment set Ancy back. "I was feeling very sad for a week. But after recovery, I told myself 'I can do this (medal).'" That recovery process also involved getting back into competitive shape. "After ATF, I put on weight. I became 59kgs (now 55) because of menstrual problems. I corrected myself in three weeks. I reduced carbs, now I'm back in good shape. I will have ice cream now."
She had to course correct during the competition too. Her first jump of 6.13m (her worst legal jump of the night) was erratic because she felt she was uncontrollable before her take-off. "My first jump was a bit uncontrollable but with the experience I had at the ATF, I course-corrected. I figured out where I was going wrong. In my fifth jump, I did my personal best. The board is very good, no problems," Ancy said.
A reason why she was able to put behind that opening jump to create an impressive sequence of legal jumps post that (6.49m, 6.56, 6.30 and 6.63) is the trust she has in her process. "I was mentally very prepared. I just told myself whatever happens, 'I will stick to my process. If I'm a medallist, not a medallist (doesn't matter)... just trust the process and that is working. I'm very thankful for my mental conditioning coach (for this)."
While her mental conditioner belongs to Kerala, where Ancy is from, the latter also looks up to former India captain, MS Dhoni, for some guidance. "When you enter the competition, everyone is thinking and worried about the result. The result is... keep it aside. First, you need to train and ensure whatever you train, give that in your competition. You just concentrate on what you can do. Dhoni always said 'Control the controllables'. I just focused on a good run and a good takeoff. I gave that and got a good performance. That is my process."
There is also a certain irony that her still fledgling athletics career has received a major boost in this city. Hangzhou was supposed to be Ancy's maiden international trip for a senior event in 2021. After breaking the national Under-21 record at the Khelo India Youth Games in Guwahati in January 2020, she was picked to represent the country in the Asian Indoor Championships to be held in Hangzhou. The pandemic put paid to those hopes. Three years later, it's a story of perseverance and process.
Sometime on Monday night, she will also video call her parents in Kerala. "They have supported me a lot," she said. While that's common, you can make the case for saying that her father, Sojan, is living his dream through his daughter. He wanted to become an athlete but financial constraints meant he had to give it up (he became a tuk-tuk driver in Thrissur).
Ancy, though, is just about getting started.
National record for mixed 4x400 team
The quartet of Muhammed Ajmal, Vithya Ramraj, Rajesh Ramesh and Subha V broke the national record to win silver in the mixed 4x400m relay. They clocked 3:14.34 to finish behind Bahrain. India had initially finished behind Sri Lanka but the latter were disqualified because of a lane infringement.
"We came here to better our performances, the results will take care of itself," said Vithya, who ran the second leg for India. The 25-year-old, who equalled PT Usha's longstanding 400m hurdles record in the qualifiers on Monday morning, will have the chance to medal in the event on Tuesday.