Bengaluru: Injuries, especially when an athlete is on an upward curve, can not only be physically painful, but mentally exhausting as well. Talented and fast-rising long-jumper Ancy Sojan experienced that early this year, and it pushed her into depression.
The 23-year-old from Thrissur, who shot to fame at the Asian Games in Hangzhou last October when she won a silver with a leap of 6.63 metres, was eyeing the Paris Olympics qualification when back-to-back injuries in a space three months dashed her dreams.
First, it was the left ankle - an issue which was bothering her even before her Asian Games heroics - which ruptured in January. Considering it was the Olympic year, she listened to what the doctors told her, giving her ankle six proper weeks of rest before plotting her comeback in March.
That’s when things went from bad to worse for Sojan. She tore the quadriceps on her right thigh during training at the national camp in SAI South Centre which rendered her hors de combat for three months.
“Initially, I didn’t realise that I had torn my quadriceps, I thought it was some tightness and continued to train with high intensity,” Sojan told DH. “But when the pain became unbearable, the doctors suggested an MRI. The report, which said I had a tear in my right quadriceps, totally shattered me.
“I was on a high in 2023. I’d finished fourth in the Asian Championships in July, won a silver a few months later at the Asian Games and then won the gold at National Games in Goa. It was all coming together so nicely and then suddenly.... boom! It all just fell apart.
“I had achieved two of my goals in 2023 and 2024 was all about trying to qualify for Paris Olympics. When the injury happened, the first question I asked was ‘Why me’. And when the Olympic dream was slipping away, I fell into depression. I didn’t feel like talking to anyone. My family and current coach (Anoop Joseph) helped me tide through the crises.”
Thanks to the strong family support, Sojan, whose father Sanoj is an autorickshaw driver and mother Jancy is a housewife, has made a superb comeback from injury. Her progression over the last three months has also been immensely encouraging, changing her mood from doom to delight.
In her first event on the comeback trail, at the Indian Grand Prix 3 in Bengaluru in June, she leapt 6.52m. She then touched 6.59m at the Indian Championships in Panchkula a fortnight later before registering 6.71m at the National Open Athletics Championships at the beginning of this month in Bengaluru.
She had won gold in all three events – attesting her status as the best long-jumper in the country – and was adjudged the Best Female Athlete in the last event.
“The three golds feel really great, especially the last one because I wanted to give my coach Anoop a birthday gift. I can’t change what has happened to me but I can write the script for a better future, god willing, for myself. The injury has sparked a fire inside me and I’ve realigned my goals,” said Sojan, who started her career as a sprinter after being inspired by the great Usain Bolt before switching focus completely to long jump in 2021.
The new goal for the fashion-conscious youngster, who looks up to the electric Sha’Carri Richardson for sartorial inspiration, is breaking Anju Bobby George’s long-standing national record of 6.83m which was set way back in Athens 2004.
“For every female jumper that has been the gold standard. A whole generation of athletes have gone without coming close to it. The results this year have been extremely encouraging for me and breaking that record is one of my goals. My main career goal is to become the first Indian woman jumper to cross the 7m mark,” proclaimed Sojan.
“It won’t happen in the near future because it takes a lot of effort. It's a huge mountain to climb. I’m putting in all the hard yards and I reckon my time will come. Not sooner but a little later. But I’m confident of myself as I feel I’m on the right path, performance wise.”