The journey from facing the hurdle of luck to rewriting her own national records, made the Indian athlete, Jyothi Yarraji, a rising star. Once again, she made her nation proud by breaking her own national record at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, winning gold in the women's 60m hurdles in just 8.12 seconds in Tehran on February 17th. (More Sports News)
Yarraji set India's previous record at the same event in 2023 where she bagged silver in 100m hurdles in 8:13s clocking.
The silver medalist at the Asian Games 2022, Bangkok faced resilient competitors in Tehran. In the preliminary round, she recorded a time of 8:22s. In the finals, Jyothi had Japan's Asuka Tereda (8.21 seconds) to surpass, and she managed to do so with a significant lead of 0.09 seconds. Lui Lai Yiu of Hong Kong (8:26) took third place on the podium.
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The 22-year-old from Vizag holds an inspiring backstory. Despite coming from a financially challenged family, she was determined to achieve great things. While her father worked as a private security guard and her mother as a cleaner in a city hospital, to earn the minimum, she chose to help and take care of them.
With this motivation, Jyothi Yarraji moved for a career in hurdling encouraged by her Physical education teacher in school, and has since remained focused on her path.
While the tally of medals commenced in 2015 at the Andhra Pradesh Inter meet hurdle events, it was not until 2020 that Jyothi began to gain recognition across the nation. In 2020, she achieved national recognition by securing a gold medal at the All India Inter-University athletics meet in Moodabidri, Karnataka.
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Just one month later, in February 2020, she certified her status as a rising star by winning another gold at the Khelo India University Games.
With the onset of COVID-19, she faced a setback and then suffered an injury. However, nothing could dim the shining of this star. Making her international debut at the Jyothi Yarraji, marking a truly remarkable achievement.
With the onset of COVID-19, a setback shadowed her path, followed by injury. However, who could stop a star from shining? The Vizag athlete made her International debut at the Cyprus International Athletics Meet in Limassol on May 10, 2022, where she set a national record by completing the women's 100m hurdles in 13.23 seconds with gold.
She had returned with a silver in the 100m hurdles from the Hangzhou Asian Games after initially being disqualified.
"A national record, a personal best and a silver medal at my first Asian indoor championship, No better feeling than this, representing our country with the medal" said Jyothi after finishing second at the Asian Indoor Athletic Championships 2023.
Her accomplishments have entered the history books several times. Following her victory at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in the 60m event, Jyothi is now the owner of two national records - the women's 100m hurdles at 12.78s, as well as the women's 60m hurdles (indoor) at 8.13s, which has been improved to 8.12s on February 17, 2024.
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(With PTI inputs)
