Anju could manage only 6.09 m

Bangalore: Long-jump ace Anju Bobby George’s much-anticipated return to domestic meet on Tuesday, after a nearly 15-month gap, turned out to be something of an anti-climax.

She won the gold but there was none who could pose a serious challenge to her in the MetLife national inter-state senior athletics meet at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

The world number six hurt her knee during warm-up and that told on her performance. She could manage only 6.09m.

Noosheen Rajendran (Tamil Nadu) was second with 5.85m and Bengal’s Kalpana Das third with 5.63m.

“This is not a performance,” said the Paris World Championship bronze medallist, who last took part in India at the national circuit meet in Delhi on April 15 last year.

“I hurt my knee during warm-up. It’s paining. There is a slight swelling in the right knee”.

Anju, whose best jump of 6.83m came in the Athens Olympics, made only an average start to the 2005 season with a fourth-placed finish of 6.42m at the Doha Super Grand Prix, and recorded 6.35m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene where she finished sixth.

Anju skipped the Asian Grand Prix series last month, and preferred to train here.

“I am taking part in some of the events in Europe later this month,” said Anju, who had represented Tamil Nadu here.

Next month will see her vying for the honours in World Championship at Helsinki.

“I am going for a medal,” she said. “We can’t put a target in an event such as that (world championship). We can only aim for the medal”.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s Benadict Starli picked up the gold in the men’s high-jump, clearing a height of 2.11m.

His statemate K.N. Priya clinched gold in women’s 100m hurdles with a time of 13.72 seconds.

In the men’s 110m hurdles, Punjab’s Gurpreet Singh led the pack, clocking 14.37 seconds, while men’s 400m gold was claimed by Haryana’s Satbir Singh, who came home in 46.49 seconds. (PTI)