Ancy Sojan, having eclipsed Anju Bobby George’s 22-year-old National mark of 6.83m set at the 2004 Athens Olympics, has a clear target: the Asian Games gold in Aichi-Nagoya in September this year.

“I want to bring the gold medal with a high class jump. I am aiming for the Asian Games record also so that I can directly qualify for the World championship next year. 6.86m is the qualification mark (for the Worlds) and the qualifying period will start from August 23,” said Ancy, who clinched a silver medal at the last Asian Games in 2023 with a jump of 6.63m. She is now the Asian season leader, thanks to her effort of 6.88m at the National inter-State athletics meet in Bhubaneswar recently

On her exceptional performance in hot and humid conditions, Ancy — who had recorded her personal best of 6.75m at the Federation meet in Ranchi in May — said, “I came here to do my personal best and be a good world class performer. I didn’t aim for the National Record.”

She was relieved with the breakthrough. “Finally it happened, I felt like I was getting tired but I remembered ‘What if I go to represent our country and if I feel tired?’ Suddenly, I remembered my last Asian Games and I got a boost. With all the belief, I took a good breath and jumped, it happened.”

She’s happy with the progress but wants more. “I am so happy that I am improving. I think, let’s aim higher than this.

An experiment

“Mentally and physically it’s like an experiment. You get tired but still you have to jump because you train for that. I want the energy, after 10 jumps I want to stay the same. Each and every training session I am thinking about the target I want to achieve, so that it helps me push more. Today I thought I was competing in the Asian Games and I felt that someone could beat me, so I needed to grab the medal for our nation. Suddenly it encouraged me, it’s fun.”

For Ancy, the record-breaking jump, which pushed her to seventh place among world leaders this season, sent a message. “This is a statement that India also has good jumpers, if someone works hard she can achieve it. Just believe in yourself, be patient and be dedicated to our work. People will say things but never mind, be true to yourself. I do the same.”

The build-up to her remarkable performance in Bhubaneswar started after the Ranchi meet. “After that (Ranchi), I trained hard the same way. Every training I just aimed at what I wanted to be… focusing on technique, run-up and fitness. Each session I pushed hard, I just stuck to my plan.

“Lots of people asked me why you didn’t push for the Commonwealth Games qualification. I knew this jump was not easy, so I needed more time for training. I just focused on training only, so I could get there. This was the only (qualifying) competition for the Asian Games. I worked hard and finally got a good result. We had a good plan, God helped us.”

The record wasn’t Ancy’s target. “I was not chasing the record actually. I didn’t have any records in my name at the National level. I wanted to do my personal best and a world class jump. Because I am aiming to compete at the international level. I see their enthusiasm. I had competed before in my first Commonwealth (in 2022 and did 6.25m). I was a beginner and I saw people jumping. It was like literally enraged me, their speed and ability. So I felt like I could also do the same. If I want to be like them, I need to jump like them. I aim to become a world-class jumper. I want to keep improving. I want to be consistent with that.”

The competition had tense moments. “Before my first jump, I was under a little bit of pressure, I wanted to be safe. But the first jump I did in my lifetime, 7m-plus jump. I was so happy and tension-free. In between, there were some fouls and minor issues. Then I was a little tired, so I went to my coach (Anoop Joseph), because I felt some stomach issues. He said, ‘Nothing, you are okay.’ It charged me up, suddenly I got goosebumps and my eyes got wet.

“I then remembered a scene… I was watching a reel of the film on Milkha Singh. He is wearing the India blazer and is asked ‘Who told you to wear this?’ And he says, ‘I am just trying this.’ Suddenly the coach comes and hits him and says, ‘If you want to wear the Indian jersey, you have to beat him (your opponent). His coach insisted, ‘Tell him you have to beat him.’ Finally Milkha says, ‘Yes.’ It really inspired me. The same thing I tell myself, you have to beat that. And finally the moment happened.”

A legend

For Ancy, her senior Kerala Statemate Anju remains an inspiration. “I knew Anju ma’am had a huge jump, 6.83m. She struggled a lot (to reach there). She is a legend. I am aiming to be like her, I want to become a world class jumper.

“I want to say that ma’am is truly an inspiration. I recently read that she has one kidney and her story inspired me a lot. I saw her jump several times and I knew how hard she trained for that also. I hope ma’am is happy about this and would support me.”

Ancy looked back at the hormonal issues that had held her back last year. “I had some hormonal issues, I was not able to get fit like this. This year I sacrificed a lot of food and decided that I wanted to become a world class jumper. Even my coach reminded me, ‘If you sacrifice and be dedicated, you will get the result. If you want to jump like a top performer, you will have to train like that.’ So if I feel tired during training, I say, ‘You have to do it.’ It helps me to push harder and train.

“I am mentally more stable than before. The experience, the difficulties and the obstacles have made me stronger. And God is helping me. I never thought it would happen. I was missing the mark narrowly because of some mistakes. But finally it happened.”

Disciplined lifestyle

Ancy doesn’t regret maintaining a disciplined lifestyle. “I love to eat a lot of food. But I remember why I am here. I tell myself, ‘First you achieve your goal, then eat.’ All the sacrifices including social media, food, whatever, will get you the result.

“I reduced my food quantity because of the hormonal issues as I used to put on weight. It is very hard to jump with a lot of weight. Last year I struggled with that. This year my diet is good. I started early, took time and prepared very well. I followed my coach’s advice. I got the result. Now I am 55kg. Before this, it was 63kg. Now my body fat is 13% after coming down from 26%.”

Ancy rides on her renewed confidence as she approaches the Asian Games. “This year I want to bring gold and hear the National anthem of India. I love biryani and rice. Now I completely avoid that. Maybe, I will have that after the Asian Games,” she said.

Published – July 06, 2026 01:06 am IST

Sreeshankar says his winning effort in Bhubaneswar was his best performance since the knee surgery in 2024.
| Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT

Dev Meena of Madhya Pradesh celebrates after qualifying for the Asian Games in the men’s pole vault during the the 65th National inter-State senior athletics championship at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.
| Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT

Gulveer Singh of Uttar Pradesh wins the men’s 5,000m race in the 65th National inter-State senior athletics championship at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday, June 24, 2026.
| Photo Credit: BISWARANJAN ROUT

Bhubaneswar:

A 24-year-old pharmacist along with his two girlfriends allegedly killed his wife by forceful anaesthesia in Bhubaneswar, police said on Wednesday.

The incident happened on October 28, but came to light only after the post-mortem examination revealed foul play, they said.

Pradmunya Kumar, the pharmacist, and his two girlfriends — Roji Patra and Ejita Bhuyan, both nurses — have been arrested, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Pinak Mishra said.

Pradmunya married Subhashree in 2020 after dating for years, and since then he has been torturing her. For the last six months, Subhashree had been living with her parents in Khurda as a result, police said.

Amid his problems with Subhashree, Pradyumna met Ejita last year and got close to her. He met Roji in March this year, and the three got along well.

They allegedly conspired to kill Subhashree and at about 2 pm on October 27, Pradyumna brought his wife to Roji’s house in Sampur area where she was overdosed with drugs meant for anaesthesia, police said.

An unconscious Subhashree was taken to the Capital Hospital on October 28 where Pradyumna told doctors that she tried to die by suicide. She was eventually declared brought dead.

The post-mortem examination revealed high dose of anaesthesia drugs was the reason behind her death, which prompted the police to further investigate the case, Mr Mishra said.

“After discussing with the medical officer, who conducted the post-mortem examination, we got the clue that it was not just an unnatural death and there was some foul play involved. We interrogated the accused, who confessed that they had forcefully injected anaesthesia drugs into the deceased,” he said.

A special team has been formed to conduct a detailed investigation into the sensational case, the DCP said.

“If required, we will take the prime accused on remand and recreate the crime scene,” he said. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhubaneswar:

Personnel of the Odisha forest department on Saturday launched a search operation at the Biju Patnaik International Airport here, after a woman claimed to have spotted a leopard near the dump yard area, officials said.

The forest department officials along with the local police scanned the area carrying nets, traps and other equipment, but could not find any trace of the leopard, they said.

Earlier in the morning, the woman, a worker at the dump yard, claimed to have spotted a leopard there, a forest official said.

However, only pug marks of jackal were found during the search operation of the high-security airport premises, “but there was no sign of any leopard”, he said.

“We have tied a few hens to nearby trees as bait… If a leopard is in the vicinity, we will catch the animal when it comes to feed on the hens,” the official said. In 2019, a leopard was caught from the Bhubaneswar airport premises and later released in the nearby Chandaka forest.

The authorities of Biju Patnaik International Airport and the Veer Surendra Sai Airport at Jharsuguda had also received threats about the presence of bombs on two different flights on Thursday, but those later turned out to be hoax, the officials said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

A day after it came to light that the friend of an Army officer was sexually harassed at a police station in Odisha’s Bhubaneswar when she and the officer went to file a complaint about an attack on them by a few men, videos of the alleged manhandling have emerged.

The videos, which were accessed by NDTV on Saturday but whose authenticity has not been independently verified, show the woman and the officer being surrounded by some men, who are seen arguing with them and then pushing them while hurling abuses. The assault took place around 1 am on Sunday when the woman and the officer, who is attached to the 22 Sikh Regiment in Kolkata, were returning to their hotel in Bhubaneswar after closing her restaurant for the day. 

In the footage, which appears to be shot on a cellphone, the woman is seen speaking to a man and is heard saying that some of the people surrounding her had tried to misbehave with her. 

“Sir, I am not speaking with you, I am speaking with the people who are trying to misbehave with me. They are… It is my car, whether I show my legs or my hair, it is my prerogative,” she says in Hindi. 

A man in the group interjects and says, “Don’t show it to us, then.” When the woman asks, “Who are you?” another man takes the name of a politician and asks whether she has heard of him. When she says she hasn’t, another man shouts, “The Prime Minister of Odisha”. 

As the argument escalates, the Army officer holds the woman’s hands and tries to take her away, but the men follow, shouting, “This is not Delhi.” The men then push the officer and ask him to “explain things” to her.

The argument continues and the men accuse the woman of playing the “victim card” and tell her not to “show overconfidence”.

The officer takes the woman to their car and in the next video, she is seen standing with the front door open when one of the men slams it. The men hurl abuses and hit the officer who tries to shield the woman. She and the officer are then separated and manhandled. The video ends with the officer and the woman walking towards the car when she says she will go to the police. A man is heard saying, “Arre ja” (go ahead). 

From Bad To Worse

The ordeal from the woman and the officer was just beginning, however. She told reporters on Friday that when they reached the Bharatpur police station in Bhubaneswar some time later, only a woman constable in civil dress was present and she refused to help them. 

The constable abused them and, in the meantime, a few policemen arrived and asked the officer to give a written statement, before locking him up in a cell. 

“I don’t know what happened… they put him in the lock-up. When I raised my voice to say they cannot put an Army officer in custody as it is unlawful, two female officers assaulted me,” she said, adding that her jacket was used to bind her arms and she was left in a room. 

“After some time, a male officer opened the doors and kicked my breasts several times,” she said, alleging he also took off his pants and then hers, while the officer in charge of the police station made obscene gestures.

Police officials at the station have, however,  alleged that the woman and the Army officer assaulted a police officer while drunk and vandalised property there. The woman was arrested and granted bail by the Odisha High Court earlier this week. 

The Odisha Police headquarters said five cops, including an Inspector-rank officer, have been suspended for “gross misconduct” and an inquiry is being conducted. Officials from another police station are now investigating the assault on the woman and the Army officer before they reached the Bharatpur police station. 

Former Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik has called for a judicial probe into the assault at the police station.

“Regarding the violence that was meted out to both of them and the alleged sexual assault on the major’s fiancee, we demand a full judicial inquiry into this matter, and action must be taken very quickly,” he said.

Bhubaneswar:

The father of the woman, who was sexually assaulted at a police station in Bhubaneswar, on Friday demanded the arrest and dismissal of the cops for taking the law into their hands.

The woman’s father, who is a retired brigadier, said: “The police personnel have violated several laws by putting an army officer in the lock up, physically assaulting him, sexually harassing my daughter.” While condemning the September 15 incident at the Bharatpur police station in the state capital where his daughter was allegedly subjected to sexual assault, the father said: “They (cops) have not just committed crime, rather their acts can be termed as heinous crime. They must be punished.” The father demanded the arrest and dismissal of the accused police personnel for violating the law of the land.

“They (police) too have come up with a false narrative and arrested my daughter. My daughter was sexually assaulted in custody. She suffered bruises on her face and body,” he said. The woman’s father also appealed to the state government and the police to sensitise the low ranking police personnel on how to behave with women.

He also urged the state government to set an example by punishing the police personnel. “Other police personnel across the state should get a lesson from the punishment from this case,” the father said.

Former Odisha chief secretary Bijay Kumar Patnaik said, “Who gave the right to the police to thrash a girl? If there are no cops for night patrolling, what’s the government doing then? So much money is being spent on different schemes, but why money is not being spent on public security.” The former chief secretary also demands stringent action against the Bharatpur police station inspector in charge. “Even if steps are being taken for women’s empowerment, they are unsafe,” he said.

The army officer posted in West Bengal and his fiancé had approached Bharatpur Police Station early on Sunday to lodge a complaint of road rage in which they were allegedly harassed by some local youths.

At the police station, the duo got engaged in a quarrel with the personnel over the registration of an FIR.

The woman, who was arrested in Bhubaneswar for allegedly misbehaving with the police, claimed that she was sexually assaulted after being taken into custody.

She was on Thursday released on bail granted by the high court.

The woman, who is at present undergoing treatment at AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, said some more personnel arrived at the police station on that night and asked her friend to write a complaint.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bhubaneswar:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday laid foundation stones and dedicated four railway projects valued at Rs 2,871 crore in Odisha.

These projects are set to enhance rail connectivity, decongest key routes and contribute to the socio-economic development of the region, the PM said.

Among the projects inaugurated was the 25 km Lanjigarh Road-Ambadola-Doikallu railway section, part of the Vizianagaram-Titilagarh third line project costing Rs 432 crore. This section will improve connectivity between western Odisha and Andhra Pradesh and facilitate smoother freight movement, officials said.

Another project is the 23 km Laxmipur Road-Singaram-Tikiri railway section, part of the Koraput-Singapur road doubling project, which was completed at Rs 260 crore. This section aims to increase train movement capacity in southern Odisha and ease freight movement from resource-rich areas to major markets.

PM Modi also dedicated the 41 km Dhenkanal-Sadashibapur-Hindol Road railway section of the Budhapank-Salegaon third and fourth line project, worth Rs 540 crore. This project will augment capacity on a crucial industrial route, ensuring more efficient transportation of goods.

Additionally, the 12.5 km Bangurkela-Nowgaon railway section of the Bondamunda-Ranchi doubling project, completed at Rs 239 crore, will reduce congestion and improve connectivity between Odisha and Jharkhand, they added.

In addition, PM Modi also laid foundation stones of four railway projects.

These include a 7 km flyover between Siju and Paradeep coaching yard costing Rs 200 crore, which will eliminate surface crossings and ensure smoother train movements at Paradeep Port.

The expansion of the Paradeep-Badabandha third and fourth line, spanning 19 km and costing Rs 300 crore, will boost capacity for both freight and passenger traffic, enhancing connectivity to Paradeep Port, officials said.

The doubling of the MCRL Inner Corridor Phase-1, which will cover 10.93 km and cost Rs 152 crore, is intended to facilitate smooth coal evacuation.

The highly anticipated 41.9 km Jeypore-Nabarangpur New Line, costing Rs 748 crore, will connect the tribal-dominated regions of Jeypore and Nabarangpur, fostering economic growth and improving access to markets and resources.

“This aspirational project will link the tribal-dominated areas of Jeypore and Nabarangpur, providing improved access to markets and services for the region’s people. The new line is expected to play a transformative role in the economic upliftment of the area, promoting employment, trade, and mobility,” the East Coast Railways (ECoR) said in a statement.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Bhubaneswar:

A court here on Thursday handed death sentence to a person for killing his wife and seriously injuring 6-year-old daughter by slitting her throat following a dispute with his spouse over monetary issues. The incident took place in Bharatpur area of Bhubaneswar in 2022.

The convict identified as Sanjeet Das a.k.a Banku is a resident of Ghatikia area in Bhubaneswar.

“A jobless Sanjeet depended on the income of his deceased wife, Saraswati who used to work as a head nurse in a nearby private hospital. The couple would often engage in a fight over monetary issues. Meanwhile, Sanjeet was further worried after the birth of their second daughter just four days before the day on which the crime took place,” a police source said.

On June 9, 2022, Sanjeet and Saraswati again entered into a heated argument and in a fit of rage Sanjeet stabbed his wife with a sharp weapon multiple times, causing her death.

He also slit the throat of his six-year-old daughter before fleeing the crime scene. The girl recovered from the injury after fighting for her life for more than two months.

Based on the complaint lodged by the deceased’s brother, the Bharatpur police registered a case and arrested the accused from a liquor shop near his residence.

The court after examining the statements of 15 witnesses and 57 exhibits pronounced the judgment. Considering the brutal murder of his own wife and the attempt to kill his innocent daughter by Sanjeet as a rarest of rare crime, the court on Thursday awarded him the death sentence.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)