Anju is planning to take part in 20-24 meets this season

Bangalore: World No. 6 Anju Bobby George will go up against Olympic champion Tatyana Lebedeva when she begins the new season defending her long jump title in the IAAF Super Grand Prix in Doha, on Friday.

The 28-year-old Keralite won the gold with a wind aided career best jump of 6.82m in Doha last year. Then she went on to improve her performance by a centimetre in the Athens Olympics, but still had to be contend with the sixth place as world No. 1 Lebedeva led a Russian medal sweep leaping to 7.07m.

Lebedeva’s compatriots Irina Simagina and Tatyana Kotava, who both cleared 7.05m, took the silver and bronze, respectively.

Anju will also be challenged by former world champion Fiona May. The 36-year-old Italian has dropped down drastically in world rankings and is the 15th in the latest ratings. Her best last season was a 6.62m recorded in Istanbul.

“My first priority is to defend the title,” said Anju before leaving her training base at SAI’s southern centre campus here.

“That would set the pace for the events that follow,” said Anju, who plans to take part in more than 20 international events this season.

Anju, the first Indian to win a medal in world athletics championships when she won the bronze in Paris in 2003, has set clear goals for the season which will culminate with next year’s Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

She wants to break into the top three world rankings, improve her position at the world championships in Helsinki and cross the milestone of seven metres more than once.

Anju will also participate in the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, USA, next month, and thereafter, the Asian Grand Prix series in Singapore, Malaysia and Bangkok, and European circuit events.

“It’s going to be a long season. I am planning to take part in 20 to 24 international meets this season culminating with the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne next year,” Anju had earlier said.

“The Helsinki world championship in August is the main focus. I am not only looking forward to defend the medal, but also to improve on that,” said Anju, who will be returning to competition after a six month break. (PTI)