Asian Games
Watch: Jyothi Yarraji finally competes at Asian Games 2023, qualifies for final
Days after a bizarre piece of news on Indian social media which had declared her an Asian Games gold medal winner already, Jyothi Yarraji finally entered the track on Saturday - ending 2nd in her heat to make it to the final.
Jyothi Yarraji in action at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championship earlier this year - not the Asian Games! (File Photo/IAAF)
Has Jyothi Yarraji won the gold medal at the Asian Games? She has not yet. Yet some of India's celebrities think so. Jyothi has finally stepped into the track of the Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou on Saturday and qualified for the final, where she will go all out for the gold medal. This came after a misinformation had surfaced on social media, with singer legendary celebrities claiming Jyothi won the gold medal even before her event started.
The hurdler from Andhra Pradesh made her debut at the Games today, finishing 2nd in her heat in 100m hurdles.
The 24-year-old has made it into Sunday's final with a timing of 13.03 seconds. Based on her timing in the heats, Jyothi stands a good chance for a medal in the final. A gold medal, however, is hard to predict.
Compared to Jyothi's timing, the two Chinese - Yuwei Lin (12.79s) and Yanni Wu (12.80s) - were the two fastest hurdlers across the two heats. In the 8-woman final, there will be two Indians - Jyothi and Nithya Ramraj, who with a timing of 13.30s, managed to qualify for the final as the slowest among the 8 qualifiers.
No Indian woman has won a 100m hurdles medal in Asian Games history. There have been medals in 400m hurdles though, including PT Usha's gold medal in 1986.
The curious case of Jyothi Yarraji's 'historic gold'
The legendary playback singer Asha Bhosle was the epicentre of the misinformation earlier on Tuesday when she shared a video from her X, formerly Twitter, account claiming that Jyothi had won a gold medal in the Hangzhou Asiad. Hours later, former cricketer Gautam Gambhir committed the same mistake.
Following their posts, a video became viral as it was being forwarded frequently on WhatsApp. Some of them even congratulated Jyothi prematurely.
After taking a closer look, it was found that the video in question was from Jyothi Yarraji's remarkable performance at the Asian Athletics Championships, where she secured the gold medal on July 13, 2023.
That Jyothi was awarded a gold medal on WhatsApp and Twitter much before she actually competed has been one of the most bizarre news around the Asian Games. Now that Jyothi has finally entered the fray, can she live up to the expectations?
