Indian long jumper Ancy Sojan came close to winning gold in the women’s long jump at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Games, but had to settle for silver after a thrilling final-round battle with China’s Huang Yingying.
Sojan was leading the competition for most of the event with her best jump of 6.53 metres. However, Huang produced her best effort on her final attempt, jumping 6.55 metres to move ahead of the Indian athlete by just two centimetres and claim the gold medal.
China’s Tan Mengyi won the bronze medal with a jump of 6.46 metres. India’s Shaili Singh finished fourth in the competition.
The silver medal gives Sojan her second consecutive Asian Games medal in the women’s long jump. She had also won silver at the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, continuing her strong record at the continental level.
Sojan, who hails from Thrissur in Kerala, began her athletics career as a sprinter before moving to the long jump. She later trained at the Reliance Athletics High Performance Centre in Navi Mumbai, where she developed into one of India’s leading long jumpers.
The athlete also serves as a Chief Petty Officer in the Indian Navy and is supported through the Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) Development programme.
One of the biggest moments of Sojan’s career came in June 2026 at the National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar. She produced a jump of 6.88 metres to break Anju Bobby George’s 22-year-old national record.
The performance significantly raised expectations around Sojan ahead of the Asian Games. Her ability to consistently produce jumps beyond 6.50 metres made her one of India’s key medal hopes in the event.
With her latest silver, Sojan has now become only the second Indian woman to win two Asian Games medals in the women’s long jump. The first was Anju Bobby George, who won gold in the event at the 2002 Asian Games.
Sojan’s next major target is to become the first Indian woman to cross the seven-metre mark in the long jump. Her national-record jump of 6.88 metres shows that she is within reach of that milestone.
Although she narrowly missed out on gold in Aichi-Nagoya, Sojan’s silver medal adds another major achievement to her growing athletics career and strengthens her position among India’s leading long-jump athletes.