PTI 

Melbourne, Mar 23: India's medal hope and world number five Anju Bobby Geroge advanced to the women's long jump final with a below-par leap of 6.41 metres at the 18th Commonwealth Games here on Wednesday.

Anju, who claimed a bronze in the previous edition of the Games at Manchester, traversed the distance on her third attempt to take the second place in her group and sixth overall.

In women's 800m, Pinky Pramanik sneaked into the semifinals clocking 2 minutes, 05.18 seconds.

However, the fancied Ghamanda Ram failed to qualify in the men's 800m finishing fourth in his heat with a timing of 1 minute 48.03 seconds.

The three Indians in heptathlon could not lift themselves on the second day of the event as well and finished way below at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Soma Biswas (5573), J J Shobha (5533) and Susmita Singha Roy (4420 points) were 8th, 9th and 11th in a field of 12 athletes.

In women's long jump, since only three athletes made the cut of 6.50m, the 12 best performers gained entry into the final slated for Friday.

Anju lunged 6.38m in her first two attempts before improving by three centimetres in her final effort.

However, the Indian's performance was below her season's best effort of 6.47m in the recent Federation Cup at New Delhi.