Anju Bobby George

New Delhi: Despite a lowly sixth place finish at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Anju Bobby George has climbed up a notch to No. 4 in the latest long jump world rankings of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Anju had dropped to No. 5 at the start of the month after she failed to make it to the finals at the World Indoor Championship in Moscow under controversial circumstances.

The ace athlete is confident of a reversal of fortunes as she feels her rhythm is getting better with each meet.

“My rhythm is improving all the time and I am confident of landing some medals before long,” she said on her return from Melbourne on Tuesday.

“March is too early in the season to be in peak rhythm and generally I do my best later in the year,” she added.

In the latest rankings, Anju upstaged Russian Oksana Udmurtova to gain one spot.

Tatyana Kotova continues to head the charts ahead of American duo Tianna Madison and Grace Upshaw.

Anju has had a less than spectacular beginning to 2006, struggling to achieve the marks she recorded while winning the Asian Championships in Incheon and the silver medal at the World Athletics in Monaco.

She opened her season with a second-place finish at the Asian Indoor Championship with a best leap of 6.32m.

She followed it up with a jump of 4.47m at the Federation Cup in New Delhi before leaving for Moscow where her she registered a best of 6.34m.

In Melbourne she managed only 6.54m to finish way behind gold medallist Bronwyn Thompson.