Chengdu [China], August 5 : Fresh off a historic gold medal-winning effort at the Asian Athletics Championships, Jyothi Yarraji continued her blistering run of form at the World University Games to win bronze in the women’s 100m hurdles event in Chengdu, China on Friday. Amlan Borgohain ran his best time of the season to win bronze in the men’s 200m event later in the evening session.
The session was special for India as Jyothi ran the fastest time ever by an Indian in her event, while Brogohain ran the 2nd fastest time ever by an Indian in the men's 200m event. After a quiet day, Jyothi and Borgohain's medals in quick succession brought a lot of cheer to the Indian contingent. Jyothi rewrote the national record, which already stands in her name, by clocking a time of 12.78s in the final. The final saw a very high-quality race with all three medallists clocking their personal bests. Jyothi had previously topped her semi-final to advance to the final. This was the 9th time that she has clocked a time below 13s in the event. She’s the only Indian in history to breach the 13s barrier in the event.
Speaking after the final, James Hillier, Athletics Director, Reliance Foundation, said, “This is another impressive medal-winning performance for Jyothi. Incredibly, it comes with a personal best and national record number 10. What makes the effort even more special is that it came in the final of a global championships. She held her nerve well and very professionally controlled herself through the qualifying rounds in order to save energy for the final. This is a great performance and another step towards the World Championships and the Asian Games.”
“Amlan has worked really hard in the lead up to the tournament. To clock two of his four fastest timings ever in the semis and final is a superlative effort for him. To get a medal in this quality field wasn’t easy and will give him a lot of confidence.”
Jyothi’s previous best was a timing of 12.82s, which she had achieved at the National Open Athletics Championships in Bengaluru in 2022. Slovakia’s Viktoria Forster won Gold with a timing of 12.72s, while China’s Yanni Wu won silver, clocking 12.76s.
Borgohain clocked his season best of 20.55s in the final to win bronze behind South Africa’s Isadore Matsoso (20.36s) and Japan’s Nishi Yudai (20.46s). Jyothi’s medal was only India’s second in athletics at this edition of the World University Games. Jyothi was taking part in the tournament for the first time. Borgohain then added India’s third athletics medal in this edition with his second-fastest time over his career.
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