Sports Minister Thakur lauds Shaili's 'fabulous' performance in Nairobi

New Delhi, Aug 23: Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur has congratulated long jumper Shaili Singh for winning the silver medal at the World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi.

Shaili bagged a silver medal with a superb leap of 6.59 metres, missing the gold medal by a mere 1 centimetre in women's long jump, as the country ended its campaign in the Championships in Nairobi on Sunday with two silver and one bronze medal.

"Shaili Singh has won a silver medal which is good news for the country. I congratulate her on winning the silver medal for India. Her performance was fabulous. She missed the gold medal by 1 cm but her performance was commendable. I wish her good luck in her future endeavours. This is a sign that our young athletes are doing well," said Thakur.

India ended their campaign with a best-ever medal haul of 2 silver and one bronze, though the country had won one gold each in the earlier two editions -- by Olympic champion javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra (2016) and quarter-miler Hima Das (2018).

The mixed 4x400m relay quartet and 10,000m race walker Amit Khatri had earlier won bronze and silver in the championships.