Asian Games: Jyothi Yarraji wins silver after AFI lodges protest

Indian hurdler Jyothi Yarraji was awarded the silver medal at the Asian Games 2023 in dramatic turn of events after the Athletics Federation of India protested the decision to allow the Chinese athlete to start despite a false start on Sunday.

The drama started when Wu Yanni was disqualified for a false start in the 100m hurdles but after a review on TV, the officials asked Jyothi Yarraji to step out of the track.

Jyothi contested the decision and after some deliberation, both runners were allowed to run in the race.

At the end of the race, Wu and Jyothi finished on the podium as the second and third-place holders while another Chinese Li Yunwei won the race. Jyothi clocked 12.91 seconds in the race.

However, a comprehensive review was done after the race, and that resulted in Jyothi Yarraji winning silver while the Chinese athlete was disqualified for the false start.

Talking about the incident, Anju Bobby George told the media, "They wanted to make sure the Chinese runner is running. Jyothi could have run much better but these things put her mind off the race. She was not stable when it happened and the race started immediately."

The protest was lodged by AFI immediately after Wu made a false start.

"Rules say whoever is leaving the ground first will be disqualified. Jyothi's hand was still on the ground, so they can't disqualify her. It was the Chinese athlete was out. This is the drama that they did. Everyone knew that this was the wrong decision," Anju explained the rules.

Watch: Jyothi Yarraji finish at three after a dramatic race