KOCHI/BHUBANESWAR: When Ancy Sojan broke the 22-year-old national record in women’s long jump on Saturday, it woke up Natika, a small fishing village in Kerala’s Thrissur district.Some 2,000 km away from the sandpit in Bhubaneswar where she landed at 6.88m, two local auto-rickshaw drivers are vicariously fulfilling their own sporting dreams as Kerala legends Anju Bobby GeorgeThe long-standing record disappeared in the sand. Anju’s 6.83m was set at the 2004 Athens Olympics.One was Ancy’s father, Sojan ET. Second, her childhood coach Sanoj VV — “Kannan Mash” to everyone in Nattika.None of the men made it past the district level as athletes, stuck in the traffic jams that result from the lack of opportunities in Indian sports. On Saturday, they found redemption in Ancy’s magnificent jump of 6.88m.“People laughed at me when I predicted in 2019 that Anja would break Anju Bobby George’s record,” Ancy’s first coach told TOI, “She was barely 18 then. See, today my prediction came true.”Father Sojan, who is currently recovering from a minor accident he suffered last week, otherwise would have been by his daughter’s side, said: “I’m living my dream through my daughter. I couldn’t progress because we didn’t have the conditions to train. But here she is now…”
Ancy Sojan (TOI photo)
Ancy comes from Nattika’s lower-income Syrian Christian community. Money was scarce, prompting Sanoj to transport passengers in his auto-rickshaw. “We are not financially well off,” Sanoj recalls, “Our income depends on how much I earn from driving my auto-rickshaw, and it varies from day to day. I am currently recovering from an injury, so that has affected our earnings.”“This plaque is dedicated to my father,” Ancy said in Bhubaneswar, “he would often say that we don’t have any national-level plaque in the family. For him, this is a reward for all the trust he has placed in me and all the sacrifices he has made over the years. This is my way of giving back and making him proud.”The Sojans are Jansy, 47, Ancy’s housewife-mother. The younger son Dominic (24) is studying business administration, while the youngest Anjali (20) intends to follow in her sister’s footsteps as a long jumper.Not far away, Sanoj, like Sojan, was a district-level gold medalist in the high jump, his sporting ambitions ended before they began. “I’m not a trained coach. I started my academy for budding athletes like Ancy, so I could pass on my experience to them,” revealed Sanoj.Sanoj first realized Andy’s potential when she was just a teenager. “At the 2015 U-14 National School Games, Ancy jumped 4.93 meters and won bronze. It was remarkable considering she was so tiny then, only 13 years old,” he recalled.In 2019, Ancy burst into the national athletics consciousness, registering a jump of 6.26m at the National School Athletics Meet in Sangrur, Punjab.After Ancy’s record jump in Bhubaneswar on Saturday, Sanoj noticed what some long jump experts might have missed. “Until a year ago, Ancy’s takeoff extension had problems. Not on Saturday. It was flawless,” he explained.Šojan assessed that his daughter has yet to reach her full potential. “She’s not 100% there yet,” he said, “She needs to improve her jump and hold time. But I’m proud of her because she erased the 22-year-old national record set by Anja. Now she can cross the 7m mark,” he added.Sanoj agreed. “I believe he can cross the 7-meter barrier,” he said.Anju, the OG, knows this will happen. “I am proud of her… I watched her jump with a smile on her face. Long jump has always been a Malay specialty. I am proud that a Keralite broke my record,” Anju said before leaving Bengaluru to meet the new star.Young Ancy also believes that the 7th is within reach.“Mrs. Anju told me, ‘This is nothing. You broke the record, but now you have to keep doing it consistently and win medals at the World Championships and the Olympics. This is a world-class jump, and soon we are moving towards 7,'” Ancy said breathlessly.The 25-year-old, long the third best long jumper in the country behind Anju’s proteges Shaili Singh and Lakshadweep’s Mubassina Mohammed, will be chasing the 7m. He’s been thinking about it for a while, but it requires a few technical adjustments.“I had trouble landing. My legs were coming into the right position, but my body wasn’t following properly. After that, I worked on my landing technique using the hanging bar and other exercises, and that helped me reach 6.75 meters,” she said.Progress must be gradual. And smart.“If I suddenly try too hard for 7m, it might affect my jump. At the moment we are focusing on increasing my consistency,” said the Asian Games silver medallist, “6.70m range should become my minimum level. It will happen. “I’m much more confident about it now.”Ancy’s record-breaking jump is a testament to the fact that while sporting talent can emerge from anywhere, they tend to be from humble Indian backgrounds. And as in Ancy’s case, it can be nurtured even by two auto-rickshaw drivers who once harbored similar dreams.
