India enjoyed a memorable evening in the women’s long jump final at the 2026 Asian Games in Nagoya. Ancy Sojan Edappilly won the silver medal, while compatriot Shaili Singh narrowly missed the podium.

Ancy delivered a strong performance throughout the competition. Meanwhile, Shaili fought hard for a medal but finished fourth after a tense battle in the closing rounds.

Ancy Sojan Wins Silver After Late Gold Medal Heartbreak

Ancy Sojan Edappilly added another Asian Games silver medal to her collection. She had also won silver in the previous edition of the Games.

The Indian long jumper took the lead in the opening round and maintained her position at the top for much of the competition.

She later produced a brilliant jump of 6.53 metres to extend her lead. For much of the final, Ancy appeared on course to win gold.

However, China’s Huang Yingying produced a decisive effort in her final attempt. She jumped 6.55 metres to snatch the gold medal by just 2 centimetres.

Ancy finished with silver at 6.53 metres. China’s Tan Mengyi secured bronze with a jump of 6.46 metres.

Despite narrowly missing gold, Ancy once again demonstrated her consistency at the continental level.

Shaili Singh Finishes Fourth After Late Medal Battle

Shaili Singh also delivered a determined performance in the women’s long jump final. She fought her way into medal contention during the middle rounds.

After a challenging start, Shaili produced a jump of 6.41 metres in Round 4. She then improved her mark to 6.42 metres in Round 5.

Her performance briefly placed her in the medal positions. With one round remaining, she was firmly in contention for a podium finish.

However, a late surge from her rivals pushed Shaili down to fourth place. She finished with a best jump of 6.42 metres, narrowly missing out on a medal.

Although the result brought disappointment, her performance highlighted her ability to compete against Asia’s leading long jumpers.

Ancy Sojan and Shaili Singh Deliver for Indian Athletics

The women’s long jump final brought both celebration and disappointment for India.

Ancy Sojan secured a silver medal and continued her impressive record at the Asian Games. Meanwhile, Shaili Singh came close to joining her on the podium.

Their performances highlighted India’s strength in the women’s long jump and added another memorable chapter to the country’s athletics campaign.

Ancy Sojan wins silver in the women's long jump at the 2026 Asian Games

Aichi-Nagoya: Baranica Elangovan made history for Indian athletics by winning bronze in the women’s pole vault at the Asian Games, becoming the first Indian athlete, male or female, to win an Asian Games medal in pole vault.

Elangovan cleared 4.15m to secure her place on the podium in Aichi-Nagoya. She and Polina Ivanova both cleared the same height, but neither could clear the next bar at 4.25m. As a result, the two athletes shared the bronze medal.

The result marks a historic moment for Indian pole vault, an event in which no Indian athlete had previously won an Asian Games medal.

Baranica Elangovan Wins India’s First Asian Games Pole Vault Medal

Elangovan’s bronze medal adds another major milestone to a breakthrough year in her career.

Her achievement is particularly significant because India had never previously won an Asian Games medal in pole vault, in either the men’s or women’s event.

By clearing 4.15m, Elangovan secured a place on the podium alongside Ivanova. Both athletes attempted 4.25m but were unable to clear the height, leaving them tied for bronze.

The medal marks a landmark moment for Indian pole vault and establishes Elangovan as the first Indian athlete to reach the Asian Games podium in the discipline.

Elangovan Broke the National Record Earlier This Year

The Asian Games medal comes just months after Elangovan set a new Indian national record.

In March, at the National Indoor Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar, she cleared 4.22m, improving on the previous national record of 4.21m held by P. Rosy Meena.

The jump marked another important step in the development of Indian women’s pole vault, with Elangovan establishing herself as the country’s leading performer in the event.

Breaking the national record had been a major target, but her season was about more than changing the mark in the record books. Her performances throughout the year built the momentum that eventually carried her to the Asian Games podium.

A Landmark Performance in Aichi-Nagoya

The pressure at the Asian Games was different from that of a national record attempt.

An Asian Games final requires athletes to produce the necessary height when the opportunity arises, and Elangovan cleared 4.15m to remain in medal contention alongside Ivanova.

Both athletes then attempted 4.25m but failed to clear it. With neither able to improve on 4.15m, they finished level and shared the bronze medal.

The result gave India its first-ever Asian Games medal in pole vault.

A Major Milestone for Indian Women’s Pole Vault

Elangovan’s rise has been rapid, with her national-record clearance of 4.22m in March already placing her among the significant performers in the history of Indian women’s pole vault.

Breaking Rosy Meena’s 4.21m record demonstrated her progress and gave her a new benchmark to pursue.

Now, she has added an Asian Games medal to her national record.

The significance of the result extends beyond the medal itself. Pole vault requires years of technical development, speed, strength and consistency. Elangovan’s progression has helped bring greater attention to an event that has traditionally received less focus within Indian athletics.

Her bronze in Aichi-Nagoya gives the discipline another major achievement and marks a first for India at the Asian Games.

From National Record Holder to Asian Games Medallist

For Elangovan, the progression from national-record holder to Asian Games medallist has happened within the same season.

She entered 2026 looking to establish herself at the highest level of Indian pole vault. She now leaves the Asian Games with a historic achievement.

Baranica Elangovan is the first Indian pole vaulter to win an Asian Games medal.

Her clearance of 4.15m secured bronze and marked a new chapter in the history of Indian athletics.

Baranica Elangovan wins bronze in the women's pole vault at the Asian Games 2026

 

India’s Ancy Sojan Edappilly continued her impressive run at Kalinga Stadium, winning the women’s long jump title at the World Athletics Continental Tour Silver meet in Bhubaneswar with a best effort of 6.71m.

The Indian national record holder produced a consistent series, with her winning mark coming on her third attempt. She opened with 6.51m and 6.58m before landing 6.71m, followed by a foul, 6.65m and 6.56m.

Women’s Long Jump — Final

🥇 Ancy Sojan 🇮🇳 — 6.71m
🥈 Shaili Singh 🇮🇳 — 6.56m
🥉 Mubassina Mohammed 🇮🇳 — 6.31m
4️⃣ Kusuma Ravanada 🇮🇳 — 6.29m
5️⃣ Bhagavathi Bhavani 🇮🇳 — 6.25m
6️⃣ Danielle Nolte 🇿🇦 — 6.05m

Ancy’s victory comes just weeks after she produced a spectacular 6.88m at the same stadium to break the Indian women’s long jump national record.

Although she could not replicate that record-breaking distance this time, her 6.71m was comfortably enough to secure the gold medal and once again underline her dominance in the Indian event.

India also completed a clean sweep of the podium, with Shaili Singh taking silver at 6.56m and Mubassina Mohammed winning bronze with 6.31m.

The result makes the women’s long jump one of the highlights of India’s campaign at its first-ever World Athletics Continental Tour Silver-level meet, with the country’s leading jumpers delivering a memorable home performance at Kalinga Stadium.

For Ancy, the gold adds another strong result to what has already been a breakthrough season, following her record-breaking leap of 6.88m at the same venue.

 

The women’s high jump final turned into an exclusive domestic battle after a sweep of non-starters stripped the field of its international flavour.
With foreign entrants failing to set a mark—Brazil’s Sarah Suelen Fernandes Freitas and Oman’s Aliya Faik Al Mughairi recorded as absent (ABS), while Iraq’s Maryam Abdulelah registered No Height (NH)—the podium was decided entirely among the Indian roster.
​Karnataka’s Supriya captured the gold medal, prevailing on countback after three athletes topped out at identical heights of 1.75m. Uttar Pradesh displayed remarkable strength in depth, sweeping the remaining medals through Manshi (silver) and Reet Rathor (bronze), who both cleared 1.75m as well.
Their state teammate Khyati Mathur rounded out the top four, finishing just off the podium with a best clearance of 1.70m.
​The main talking point, however, was the absence of national record holder Pooja Singh (Haryana). Marked as ABS on the final sheet, her non-appearance was disappointing for the local fans.
For an athlete of her calibre, it does raise questions around her fitness and tournament readiness.
​Official Results
​1st Place: Supriya (Karnataka) — 1.75m
​2nd Place: Manshi (Uttar Pradesh) — 1.75m
​3rd Place: Reet Rathor (Uttar Pradesh) — 1.75m
​4th Place: Khyati Mathur (Uttar Pradesh) — 1.70m
​Did Not Start / Unranked: Pooja Singh (Haryana) — ABS; Sarah Suelen Fernandes Freitas (Brazil) — ABS; Aliya Faik Al Mughairi (Oman) — ABS; Maryam Abdulelah (Iraq) — NH

By Sushant Singh

Many sports fans were disappointed after India’s senior women’s high jump national record holder and teen sensation Pooja finished 7th in the women’s high jump final at the World Athletics U20 Championships 2026.

Pooja successfully cleared 1.75m, 1.80m, and 1.84m during the final. The 19-year-old was unable to clear 1.87m and ended her campaign with a best clearance of 1.84m.

But why did India’s Pooja, one of the country’s biggest medal hopes, fail to deliver on the world’s biggest stage?

To understand that, we first have to understand why she was considered one of India’s strongest medal hopes at the World U20 Championships.

Pooja has been one of India’s most consistent athletes over the years. Since 2022, when her personal best was 1.71m, she has improved it to 1.93m.

Since 2023, she has competed in 29 high jump competitions and has cleared 1.80m or higher around 21 times. During this period, she continuously improved her personal bests to 1.82m, 1.85m, 1.89m, and finally 1.93m.

What is even more interesting is that she has often produced her personal best performances at the biggest competitions of her career.

 – 1.82m — her first-ever clearance above 1.80m, achieved while winning silver at the Asian U20 Championships, which was the biggest competition of her life at that time.

 – 1.83m — at the 2024 World Athletics U20 Championships.

 – 1.85m — at the 2024 Junior Nationals in the heptathlon, an event she was competing in for the first time in her life.

The biggest performance of her career came at the Asian Athletics Championships 2025, where she was the youngest member of the Indian contingent yet stunned everyone by winning gold and becoming Asian champion with a clearance of 1.89m.

Later, at the Asian U20 Championships, she cleared 1.93m, shattering the Indian national record and becoming the first Indian woman ever to clear that height.

During the 2024 South Asian Games, in an interview with NNIS Sports, Pooja and her former coach Balwan Parta said:

“She is a big-game player. She never posts her PBs during practice, but always does it in competition.”

So what really happened at the biggest competition of her life, the World Athletics U20 Championships 2026?

Pooja had been saying since the beginning of this year that World U20 was her top priority for the season, and she had been training specifically for it.

She started the season early, competing at the Asian Indoor Championships, where she won silver with 1.87m — then the second-best clearance of her career, achieved in her first competition of the season.

Just one competition later, she improved her personal best to 1.90m. Then, at the Asian U20 Championships at Indira Gandhi Stadium on 29 May 2026, she again produced a major performance. Interestingly, almost exactly a year earlier, on 30 May 2025, she had cleared 1.89m to become Asian champion.

The peaking of the body in athletics, especially in jumps, works very differently. Coaches and support staff often have to plan the entire competition calendar before the season even begins — deciding which competitions to target, which to skip, and when the athlete should reach peak condition.

This year has been challenging for many athletes, not just Pooja, with the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games falling in the same year. For Pooja, the challenge was even greater, as she had to manage three major competitions, including the World U20 Championships.

Pooja had not originally included the Commonwealth Games 2026 in her competition calendar, but after achieving the qualification standard, she competed in Glasgow and finished 8th. Less than nine days later, she was competing again at the World U20 Championships.

Another interesting point is that the top five athletes in the world U20 season rankings before the championship were:

Remarkably, four of those five athletes finished in the top four at the World Championships, taking gold, silver, bronze, and fourth place. Only Pooja finished outside the top five.

NNIS Sports has also learned that a few days before leaving for the Commonwealth Games, Pooja spent some time in Delhi for visa appointments. She had been planning to join an international training camp in Poland, but due to visa delays she remained in Delhi for several days and even trained at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium instead of staying at her regular training base, the Anju Bobby George Academy in Bengaluru.

She later returned to Bengaluru after continued visa delays and eventually planned to travel directly to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games. This may have affected her preparation

Although she is only 19 years old, expectations around her have risen because she has performed at such a high level and made people believe that she could be India’s next big thing in the jumps.

This disappointing campaign will surely give her valuable experience. The expectation now is that she will learn from this setback and bounce back strongly, with the Asian Games 2026 likely to be her next major target, where she is expected to represent India in the women’s high jump.

India’s Pooja finished seventh in the women’s high jump final at the World Athletics U20 Championships 2026, bringing her campaign to an end after a best clearance of 1.84m.

The 19-year-old entered the competition as one of India’s biggest medal hopes and produced a composed performance through the early stages of the final. She successfully cleared 1.75m, followed by 1.80m and 1.84m, progressing through each height before facing the next challenge at 1.87m.

However, Pooja was unable to clear 1.87m, ending her competition with a best mark of 1.84m and securing seventh place overall.

Pooja’s Final Series

The result comes after a breakthrough season for the young Indian high jumper. Pooja has established herself as one of the country’s leading emerging athletes in the event, producing significant performances at both domestic and international competitions.

While she was unable to challenge for the podium in Eugene, reaching the World U20 final itself provided Pooja with valuable experience at a major global championship. The final brought together the leading junior high jumpers from around the world, providing a demanding test for the 19-year-old.

Her clearance of 1.84m was enough to place her seventh in the final standings. Although the outcome fell short of the medal that India would have hoped for from one of its leading medal prospects, Pooja now has the experience of competing in a global championship final to build on in the next stage of her career.

With her World U20 campaign now complete, Pooja will look to carry the lessons from Eugene into future international competitions as she continues her development among India’s promising young athletics talents.

 

India’s Pooja Singh has officially qualified for the women’s high jump final at the World Athletics U20 Championships 2026 after producing a flawless qualification round.

The 19-year-old cleared both heights she attempted on her first try, going over 1.76m and then 1.79m without a single failure.

The automatic qualifying mark for the final was set at 1.84m, with the best 12 athletes also advancing if fewer than 12 cleared the standard. However, only 14 athletes across the two qualification groups managed to clear 1.79m, meaning all 14 earned places in the final.

Pooja’s qualification adds another chapter to what has been an impressive season for the Indian high jumper. She has emerged as one of India’s standout performers in 2026, setting a new Indian women’s high jump national record with a clearance of 1.93m.

That season-best mark also puts Pooja among the strongest contenders heading into the world final.

Having negotiated qualification without a single failed attempt, Pooja will now look to reproduce her best form when the medals are decided.

 

India’s Pooja will be one of the country’s brightest young medal hopes in the women’s high jump at the Commonwealth Games 2026, following a breakthrough season that has established her among the leading jumpers in the Commonwealth.

The 19-year-old has enjoyed a remarkable 2026 campaign, consistently raising the bar with a series of career-best performances. Her season-best clearance of 1.93m currently ranks seventh among Commonwealth athletes this year, placing her in contention in one of the strongest women’s high jump fields assembled for the Games.

Pooja’s rise has been one of the standout stories of Indian athletics this season. She registered two lifetime bests, broke the Indian U20 national record twice, and surpassed the senior national record mark with her clearance of 1.93m. The rapid progression has highlighted both her immense talent and her ability to perform under pressure against top-class competition.

The Commonwealth season rankings are headed by Australia’s Eleanor Patterson, who has cleared 2.00m, followed closely by compatriot Nicola Olyslagers at 1.99m. Nigeria’s Temitope Simbiat Adeshina occupies third with 1.97m, while Lamara Distin of Jamaica and Rose Yeboah of Ghana have both recorded 1.96m. Australia’s Izobelle Louison-Roe follows with 1.95m, before Pooja rounds out the top seven at 1.93m.

Although she will be competing against several world-class athletes, Pooja has shown throughout the season that she is capable of rising to the occasion. Her consistent improvement and fearless approach have made her one of India’s most exciting field-event prospects heading into Glasgow.

With a season-best that ranks among the Commonwealth’s elite and a breakthrough campaign already behind her, Pooja enters the Games with growing confidence. If she can reproduce her best form on the biggest stage, the young Indian high jumper has every opportunity to challenge for a place on the podium and continue her remarkable rise in international athletics.

 

Asian champion Pooja continued her impressive run of form by winning the women’s high jump title at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2026, clearing 1.83m to secure the gold medal and achieve the Asian Games qualification standard.

Competing against the country’s top high jumpers, Pooja produced a composed and confident performance throughout the competition. Her successful clearance at 1.83m proved enough to clinch the Interstate title while also booking her place for the upcoming Asian Games.

Having secured victory and the qualification mark, Pooja raised the bar to 1.90m in pursuit of an even bigger achievement. The talented youngster made three determined attempts at the height but was unable to clear it on this occasion. Despite falling short of 1.90m, her performance at 1.83m stood out as another significant milestone in an already outstanding season.

The victory further strengthens Pooja’s growing reputation as one of India’s brightest young field-event athletes. Already an Asian champion, she has consistently demonstrated the ability to perform on major stages, and her latest success at the country’s premier domestic championships reinforces her status among the nation’s elite high jumpers.

The Interstate Championships have once again provided athletes with an opportunity to secure qualification standards ahead of major international events, and Pooja made the most of the occasion with a championship-winning display. Her consistency, technical execution, and composure under pressure were evident throughout the competition.

With the Asian Games qualification now secured, Pooja is set for an exciting international season. She is scheduled to represent India at the World U20 Championships, the Commonwealth Games 2026, and the Asian Games 2026, making this one of the busiest and most significant years of her young career.

Winning the Interstate title while qualifying for the Asian Games is another major achievement for Pooja, and her continued progress suggests she will be one of India’s key athletes to watch on the international stage in the months ahead.

 

Karnataka’s Sindhushree G produced a career-defining performance at the 65th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships 2026, rewriting the women’s pole vault national record with a sensational clearance of 4.25m.

The 25-year-old athlete delivered the standout performance during the competition, surpassing her previous personal best of 4.00m by an impressive 25 centimeters. The mark not only established a new national record but also secured her qualification for the upcoming Asian Games.

Sindhushree’s achievement carries additional significance on the continental stage. Her clearance of 4.25m currently ranks as the fifth-best performance in Asia this season, underlining her growing stature among the continent’s leading pole vaulters.

The emotional moment was made even more special by the athlete’s heartfelt tribute to her late father. Reflecting on her record-breaking jump, Sindhushree said, “When I cleared the height, I knew my father was supporting me from heaven.” The statement captured the personal significance of the achievement and added a touching dimension to one of the championship’s most memorable performances.

Competing against a strong field, Sindhushree displayed exceptional composure and confidence throughout the event. Her successful clearance at 4.25m represented not only a national milestone but also a breakthrough moment in her own athletic journey. The substantial improvement from her previous best demonstrates the progress she has made and signals the potential for even greater heights in the future.

With the new national record, Asian Games qualification secured, and a place among Asia’s top performers this season, Sindhushree has firmly established herself as one of India’s premier field-event athletes. Her achievement is another significant boost for Indian athletics and highlights the growing strength of pole vaulting in the country.

As preparations begin for future international competitions, Sindhushree G’s historic performance at the Interstate Championships will be remembered as a landmark moment in Indian women’s pole vault history.