Bhubaneswar: Odisha Reliance Foundation HPC athlete Jyothi Yarraji struck gold in women’s 60m hurdles at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tehran on Saturday.
It was double delight for Andhra girl Jyothi as her timing of 8.12 seconds was a National record.
She bettered her own National mark, set at last year’s Asian Indoor meet at Kazakhstan, where she won silver.
Jyothi, who was scouted and brought into the RF Athletics programme in 2021, has been a residential athlete at High Performance Centre in Odisha, and recently, at RF National Athletics Centre at the Jio Institute in Ulwe.
She trained at Kalinga Indoor Athletics Stadium ahead of the meet at Tehran. She also participated in the first Indoor Athletics Test Meet organised by Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre.
Jyothi thanked the Odisha government and RF for their support.
“The Asian Indoor Athletics Championship was a very good experience. It’s the start of the season and the first international competition of the season, so I am very happy with the performance. This gold medal is special. I was a little worried about the pain in the hamstring last week, but my team and physiotherapists at Reliance Foundation worked hard to make me competition-ready. I am thankful to the Odisha government and the Reliance Foundation for helping me prepare for the competition. I am happy with the way I have started the season,” the athlete said.
