How Jyothi Yarraji finished with the silver medal at the Asian Games amidst controversy

Despite several controversies, India’s Jyothi Yarraji won the silver medal in 100m hurdles at the 2023 Asian Games.

India’s star in hurdles racing, Jyothi Yarraji had to endure all kinds of controversy before clinching the silver medal at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on Sunday. A false start was the reason behind much uncertainty and the race had to be restarted. On her second attempt, Yarraji finished third with a time of 12.91 seconds before being upgraded to the silver medal because the athlete who finished second got disqualified because of her false start.

China’s home favourite Yanni Wu was the one who initiated the false start. Because of Wu’s misinterpretation, Yarraji also reacted to her cue inadvertently. As a result, officials spoke to both athletes and it seemed that they had been disqualified from the race for the false start.

This was accompanied by a loud and raucous roar of disapproval from the crowd at the stadium. After all, Wu is one of the biggest sport stars in China and enjoys a lot of popularity and affection.

Both athletes made impassioned pleas surrounding their cases. Officials continued to look at the TV monitors beside the track to determine what had actually happened and the replays clearly showed that it was Yanni Wu who made the false start and Jyothi Yarraji simply reacted to her cue.

As a result, both athletes were allowed to take part in the restarted race but confusion prevailed on whether their respective results would be admissible in the case they won. In that restarted race, Yarraji finished third behind China’s Yuwei Lin and Yanni Wu.

The Athletics Federation of India, led by Anju Bobby George, had asked for Wu’s disqualification because of her false start and for protocols to be applied. As a result, even though Yarraji crossed the finish line after Wu, she got upgraded to the silver medal.

After the event, the 24-year-old mentioned that the false start drama and the threat of disqualification affected her mentally and she wasn’t in the right headspace.

“100 percent I was affected by what happened in the race. It hit me hard mentally, because I had not done too well in the heats,” Yarraji said later on before admitting she was “completely blank”.

Yanni Wu’s disqualification resulted from a breach in protocol TR 16.8. That regulation states: “Except in Combined Events, any athlete responsible for a false start shall be disqualified by the Starter. For Combined Events, see Rule 39.10.3 of the Technical Rules.”

This isn’t the first time that Jyothi Yarraji has been subjected to controversy beyond her control. She has been denied the national record in hurdles race on more than one occasion. Once, it was due to the absence of dope control officers being there while on another occasion, the tail wind had been over permissible limits.

In August this year, Yarraji had endured heartbreak at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest after clocking 13.05s in the women’s 100m hurdles to finish 29th overall. In fact, she had finished seventh in her heat!

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