Bobby Aloysius (born 22 June 1974) is an Indian athlete from

Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...

, who competes in the

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

event. Currently, she is residing in

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

. She held the Indian and South Asian records in

between 1995 and 2012 of 1.91m. Bobby participated in the

2004 Athens Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, won silver in 2002 Busan Asian Games and won gold in the

Jakarta Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital and largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coast of Java, the world's most populous island, Jakarta ...

Asian Championships.

Personal life

Bobby was born in

Chemperi Chemperi is a town on the bank of the Chemperi River, in the Western Ghat, in the Kannur district of South India. Chemperi is often referred as the education city of Kannur with the establishment of Vimal Jyothi Engineering College, Chemperi. ...

Kannur Kannur (), formerly known in English as Cannanore, is a city and a municipal corporation in the state of Kerala, India. It is the administrative headquarters of the Kannur district and situated north of the major port city and commercial hu ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Bobby travelled around the world several times and eventually lived in Shrewsbury, United Kingdom until 2009. She had also worked as the Assistant Secretary (Technical) of Kerala State Sports Council in Thiruvananthapuram till 2013. She is married to Shajan Skariah, who is the founder and chief newsreader of an online channel named Marunadan TV. They have three children, Stefan Holm Skariah, Gangotri Skariah and Ritwik Skariah. She is an alumnus of Calicut University.

Career

Bobby established the national record of 1.91m in women's high jump during the Olympic qualifications in 2004 in Chennai. ''“I badly wanted to qualify for the Olympics and I put everything into that jump in Chennai and cleared 1.91m,"'' she said in an interview at the Maharaja's Stadium in 2011. Her national record remained unbeaten till 2012, when Sahana Kumari cleared 1.92 m for the London Olympics. Bobby also won the women's High Jump event at the National Domestic Circuit Meet held in 2003 in Chennai, in addition to her international wins. Bobby has also worked with the Kerala state government to improve sports development in her state. Serving as the Assistant Secretary (Technical) of Kerala State Sports Council, Bobby organised the Sports Council's High Jump Carnival, held at Thiruvananthapuram with the athletes performing to heavy music in 2011. She aimed to implement the higher secondary sports quota online allotment scheme during her service. In 2013, she submitted her resignation letter to KSSC as she claimed that they had denied her the opportunity to get appointed to the National Games Office by holding back the order.

Awards

After applying for the

Dhyan Chand Award The Major Dhyan Chand Award, officially known as Major Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sports and Games, is the lifetime achievement sporting honour of the Republic of India. The award is named after hockey wizard Major Dhyan ...

multiple times and losing the chance to receive it, Bobby was finally awarded with it in 2018. She was presented the award on 25 September by the President of India Ram Nath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhawan. In one of her interviews, she said ''"I'm lucky to win it this time. I've been applying for this honour ever since Dhyan Chand Award was instituted in 2002.The honour will motivate me to take coaching seriously. After Nayana James left me after just one year of training under me, I stopped coaching. Now, I am planning to make a comeback to serious coaching."''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Aloysius, Bobby 1974 births Living people Malayali people Indian female high jumpers 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Sportspeople from Thiruvananthapuram Olympic athletes of India Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games competitors for India University of Calicut alumni Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Asian Games Sportswomen from Kerala Athletes from Kerala Asian Games silver medalists for India Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games Recipients of the Dhyan Chand Award