Jyothi Yarraji breaks National Record to win gold in the women's 60m hurdles

Jyothi Yarraji broke the National Record and won the gold medal in the 60m hurdles at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships 2024 on Saturday. Yarraji cruised to victory in the final with an astonishing timing of 8.12 seconds.

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Jyothi Yarraji has now broken the 60 meter hurdles national record six times. She had set the national record last year by clocking 8.20 seconds, then beat it four times and completed it in 8.13 seconds. Jyothi had recorded a time of 8.22 seconds in her heat at the beginning of the day. She had won a silver medal in the last edition of the competition, which she improved this time.

Jyothi Yarraji topped her heat timing of 8.22s to finish ahead of Japan's Asuka Terada who clocked 8.21s. Lui Lai Yiu of Hong Kong took the third place with 8.26s. The 24-year-old Indian is the reigning Asian Outdoor champion in the 100m hurdles, having won the title in Bangkok last year. She had returned with a silver in the 100m hurdles from Hangzhou Asian Games after initially being disqualified.

On the other hand, Harmilan Bains had also won the gold medal in the 1500m final, crossing the finish line with a timing of 4:29.55. Her stellar performance laid the foundation of India's dominance on the track.

India has already done better performance than last year, not only Jyothi Yarraji return with a gold medal, another two gold medals came on the very first day.

Meanwhile, in field events, Shaili Singh and Nayana James showed their skills in the long jump finals and performed commendably and finished fifth and sixth respectively. Although falling short of the podium, their efforts added valuable points to India's tally.

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Ajay Kumar Saroj (1500m), Tajinderpal Singh Toor (shot put), Dhanvir (shot put), and Tejas Shirse (60m hurdles) will compete in the evening session.