Jyothi Yarraji clocks 13.03s to qualify for Women's 100m Hurdles final at Hangzhou Asian Games 2023

Indian sprinter Jyothi Yarraji qualified for the Women’s 100m Hurdles in the first heats of Round 1 at the ongoing Hangzhou Asian Games 2023 on Saturday, September 30. She was ranked 24th in the world and was one of the seven participants in the heats (Round 1).

In an effort to boost the morale of the Indian contingent on the second day of the athletics, Yarraji, who competed from the sixth lane, clocked 13.03s and jumped over 10 hurdles. She finished second in the heats, behind the local athlete Yuwei Lin’s timing of 12.79s, which was the personal best record for the 24-year-old.

Japan’s Masumi Aoki was the third athlete from the Round 1 to qualify for the final after clocking 13.38s. Kazakhstan’s Yuliya Bashmanova finished fourth, and Indonesia’s Dina Aulia came fifth with timings of 13.74s and 13.92s respectively.

Watch the video of Women’s 100m Hurdles Round 1 Heats ft. Jyothi Yarraji here:-

While Nithya Ramraj finished fifth in Heat 2 of the Women's 100m Hurdles, the Tamil Nadu athlete's timing of 13.30 seconds was enough to qualify in the final as the second non-automatic qualifier. Hong Kong's Lai Yiu Lui clocked 13.24 seconds, finished fourth in the second heat, and became the second sprinter overall to earn a non-automatic qualifier spot.

The top three best positions from each heat were granted automatic qualification while the remaining two slots were decided based on the personal timings of sprinters from the combined heats. Jyothi Yarraji and Nithya Ramraj will represent India in the Women's 100m Hurdles final, scheduled on October 1 (Sunday).

Long Jump and men's 1500m athletes follow Jyothi Yarraji's path

Indian athletes also qualified for the Men's Long Jump and Men's 1500m in the early morning of Saturday. Murali Sreeshankar made an excellent start with a gargantuan jump of 7.97m in his first attempt to seal the automatic qualification mark (7.90m) in the final.

Although Jeswin Aldrin committed back-to-back fouls at the beginning of this event, a 7.67m jump in the third and final round was enough for the Tamil Nadu long jumper to finish second in Group A and make the cut in the final on the virtue of being in the top 12.

Ajay Kumar Saroj became the first Indian to secure a place in the men's 1500m final after clocking 3:51.93 to finish second in the first heat. Reigning champion Jinson Johnson joined Ajay after ending in the fifth spot in the second heat with a timing of 3:56.22.