How this Milkha Singh film scene inspired Ancy Sojan to break a 21-year national record | WATCH

Bhubaneswar: Indian long jumper Ancy Sojan has credited legendary sprinter Milkha Singh for inspiring her to chase greatness after smashing one of Indian athletics' longest-standing national records.

The 25-year-old from Kerala leapt a remarkable 6.88m at the National Inter-State Championships on Saturday, eclipsing the previous women's long jump national record of 6.83m set by Anju Bobby George in 2004.

The jump also saw Ancy surpass the Athletics Federation of India's Asian Games qualifying mark of 6.48m, while making her the season's leading women's long jumper in Asia. Her previous personal best stood at 6.75m.

Speaking after her record-breaking performance, Ancy revealed that a memorable scene from the 2013 biographical film *Bhaag Milkha Bhaag* played in her mind during the competition.

"I just remembered a scene from the Milkha Singh's film. He was wearing the coat (blazer) of India and someone came and asked him why he was wearing this. He replied it was just like that. Then his coach came and beat him and told him that 'if you want to wear the jersey, you have to beat him'. That really inspired me."

The scene depicts Milkha Singh being reminded that representing India is an honour that must be earned through hard work rather than assumed.

Ancy said that mental resilience had become one of her greatest strengths.

"My mental stability is better than before. It is helping me perform better. The difficulties and obstacles make me more stronger. And God is helping me.

"It's a lot of hard work and sacrifice for me. I want to keep improving and be consistent, become a world class jumper and I will do everything to become one. Every training session, I think about the target what I want to be."

She added that she mentally placed herself in the Asian Games while competing.

"During the competition also, I was thinking that I am competing in the Asian Games, and I imagined that someone is going to beat me. So I need to grab the medal for our nation. So suddenly it encouraged me."

The national record, however, came at a personal cost.

Ancy admitted she had given up many of the things she enjoys, including social media and her favourite food, biryani, in pursuit of becoming a world-class athlete.

"First thing is sacrifice. I love to eat a lot of food. But if I want to eat a lot of food, then I would ask myself 'Why are you here? Why you started sports? What do you want to become?

"Then why do you want to eat? First you achieve your goal, then eat."

She revealed she had reduced her weight from 60kg to 55kg over the past year while cutting her body fat percentage from 26 per cent to 13 per cent.

"My favourite food is Biryani Rice. Now I will completely avoid this. But, yes (after the Asian Games). I want to bring gold in the Asian Games and I know I can achieve that with this jump. I want to hear the National Anthem in the stadium."

Despite breaking Anju Bobby George's long-standing mark, Ancy paid tribute to India's greatest long jumper.

"She is a legend. I want to just say, ma'am has truly been an inspiration. She competed with one kidney... that inspired me a lot.

"I saw her jump several times and I know how hard she trained for that. I hope ma'am should be happy for this and she would support me."

Ancy insisted she had not arrived at the championships targeting the national record.

"I came here to do my PB, not the national record, and just wanted to be a good world-class jumper. But, finally it happened."

The record-breaking jump has strengthened her belief that she can challenge for Asian Games gold and eventually qualify directly for the 2027 World Athletics Championships.