Indian athlete Anju Bobby George on Thursday honoured with the Woman of the Year Award by World Athletics for grooming talent and encouraging young girls in India to take up sports and fight for gender equality. The awards were earlier known as World Athletics Gala Awards.

The award is given to recognise a woman who has dedicated her life to the sport of athletics. Anju is the second recipient of the prestigious award. These awards started in 2019 and the first recipient was Ethiopia's double Olympic champion Derartu Tulu.

“Congratulations to Anju Bobby George on being crowned this year’s Woman of the Year at the World Athletics Awards,” World Athletics wrote on Twitter. “Her efforts in advancing the sport in India as well as inspiring more women to follow in her footsteps make her more than a worthy recipient of this year’s award.”

It added, “The former international long jump star from India is still actively involved in the sport. In 2016, Anju opened a training academy for young girls, which has already helped to produce a world U20 medallist. A constant voice for gender equality, she also mentors schoolgirls for future leadership positions within the sport.”

Anju on Thursday tweeted saying she was ‘truly humbled and honoured to be awarded Woman of the Year by World Athletics.’

“There is no better feeling than to wake up everyday and give back to the sport, allowing it to enable and empower young girls! Thank you for recognising my efforts,” she tweeted.

Hailing from Kerala, Anju is India's only medallist at the World Athletics Championships (Paris, 2003), a gold medallist in the IAAF World Athletics Finals (Monaco, 2005).

She finished sixth in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens with a personal best leap of 6.83m, but was elevated to fifth place in 2007 when the United States of America's Marion Jones was disqualified for a doping offence.

Last year, Anju was elected as senior vice-president of the Athletics Federation of India, the highest post occupied by a woman in its history. She was recently made a member of the Executive Committee of the Indian Olympic Association as Athletes Commission representative.

Olympic champions Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica and Karsten Warholm of Norway were also named the World Athletes of the Year at the awards.

In 2019, Sprint legend PT Usha was honoured by the world athletics body with the Veteran Pin in recognition of her contribution to the growth of sport.

From 2014 to 2018, a similar honour called 'Women in Athletics Award', which recognised outstanding achievements and contributions made to develop, encouraged and strengthened the participation of women and girls at all levels of the sport, was given.

Image Courtesy: Twitter