Jyothi Yarraji, the 23-year-old athlete, brought India’s first gold medal in the Asian Athletics Championships 2023 in Bangkok, Thailand.
Thursday (13 July) was the second day of the five-day Asian Athletics Championships 2023, where Jyothi Yarraji won a gold medal in the women’s 100 meters hurdles. She clocked 13.09 seconds to win that event and accounted for India’s first gold medal in the continental Championships.
In the meantime, Japan won both the silver and bronze medals in the women’s 100 meters hurdles as Asuka Terada (13.13s) and Aoki Masumi (13.26s) finished in the second and third positions, respectively.
Another Indian, Nithya Ramraj missed a medal after ending the race in the fourth spot in 13.55 seconds.
Who is Jyothi Yarraji?
Last February, during the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2023 in Astana, Kazakhstan, Yarraji secured the national record in women’s 60 meters hurdles to win a silver medal (8.13s).
In the National Games 2022 (61st National Open Athletics Championships 2022), Yarraji created history by becoming the first Indian woman to clock the 100m hurdles in less than 13 seconds as she won the gold medal after completing the run in just 12.82 seconds.
Last June, during the National Championships 2023 (62nd National Inter State Senior Athletics Championship), Yarraji won gold medals in women’s 100 meters (11.46s) and women’s 100 meters hurdles (12.92s).
Last year in the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham (England), Yarraji was a member of the Indian team along with Dutee Chand, Hima Das and Srabani Nanda in the women's 4 × 100m relay final, where the Indian team finished in the fifth position (43.81s).
