Jyothi Yarraji (Railways) made history by becoming the first Indian woman to clock a legal sub-13 second time for 100m Hurdles at the 61st AFI National Open Athletics Championships at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium here today.
The 23-year-old cruised to victory in 12.82 seconds and, with the wind gauge reading 0.9m/s, she could not be denied that honour a second time. She had won the National Games in IIT Gandhinagar in a time of 12.79 seconds but was supported by wind that exceeded the permissible limit.
Jyothi Yarraji was unstoppable tonight. She had already owned the meet mark with 13.18 seconds in the heats, bettering the record of 13.38 seconds set by Anuradha Biswal in Chennai 20 years ago. In the final, she hit the front by the time the seven athletes got to the second hurdle and was a comfortable winner.
The Railways star, who hails from Andhra Pradesh and trains in Bhubaneswar, capped a fine season, with a fumble only at the National Inter-State Championships in Chennai in June. She thus became the second fastest Asian in the event this year and earned a place just outside the continent’s all-time Top 10 list.
It was the third time this year that she rewrote the National record. She broke Anuradha Biswal mark of 13.38 set in 2002 with 13.11 in Loughborough University on May 22. Four days later, she raised the bar to 13.04 seconds in Vught, Netherlands. Earlier, had a 13.09-second effort in the Federation Cup in Kozhikode but was denied by excessive wind speed.
Late on Sunday evening, Parshant Singh Kanhiya (Railways) claimed the men’s Pole Vault meet record when he cleared 5.15m. S Siva, who broke his own National record in the recent National Games, cleared 5.00m to concede a handsome victory for Parshant Singh Kanhiya.
The results (finals):
Men
5000m: 1. Sunil Dawar (Madhya Pradesh) 14:10.45; 2. Gulveer Singh (Services) 14:11.24; 3. Kiran Matre (Services) 14:14.35.
110m Hurdles: 1. Maymon Poulose (Services) 13.97 seconds; 2. Tejas Ashok Shirse (Maharashtra) 13.98; 3. Sachin Binu (Services) 14.19.
4x100m Relay: 1. Railways (Sudhakar Chinta, VK Elakkiyadasan, N Shanmuga Srinivas, B Siva Kumar) 39.75 seconds (New Meet record. Old: 38.89, Railways, 2006); 2. Services 40.21; 3. Maharashtra 40.50.
High Jump: 1. Sarvesh Anil Kushare (Services) 2.18m; 2. Jesse Sandesh (Railways) 2.10; 3. Chethan Balasubramanya (Services) 2.05.
Women
5000m: 1. Parul Chaudhary (Railways) 16:24.90; 2. Seema (Himachal Pradesh) 16:25.17; 3. Komal Chandrakant Jagdale (Railways) 16:28.89.
100m Hurdles: 1. Jyothi Yarraji (Railways) 12.82 seconds (New National and Meet record. Old NR: 13.04, Jyothi Yarraji, Vught, May 5, 2022; Old MR: 13.18, Jyothi Yarraji, Bengaluru, 2022); 2. Sapna Kumari (Jharkhand) 13.26; 3. Agasara Nandini (Telangana) 13.51.
4x100m Relay: 1. Railways (AT Daneshwari, Jyothi Yarraji, C Lekha Anandan, Himashree Roy) 44.98 seconds (New Meet record. Old: 45.23, Railways, Ranchi, 2019); 2. Karnataka 46.09; 3. Tamil Nadu 46.38.
Shot Put: 1. Manpreet Kaur (Punjab) 16.84m; 2. Abha Khatua (Maharashtra) 15.72; 3. Paramjot Kaur (Railways) 15.25.
Javelin Throw: 1. Shilpa Rani (Haryana) 55.18m; 2. Rashmi K (Railways) 51.52; 3. Karishma Sanil (Karnataka) 51.39.
Mixed
4x400m Relay: 1. Karnataka (M Siddappa Helavi, S Incharan, M Likitha, Nihal Joel) 3:21.53 (New Meet record. Old: 3:36.22, Tamil Nadu, Warangal, 2021); 2. Railways 3:21.66; 3. Tamil Nadu 3:21.74.
Sunday’s results
Men
Pole Vault: 1. Parshant Singh Kanhiya (Railways) 5.15m (New Meet record. Old: 5.12, S Siva, Warangal, 2021); 2. S Siva (Services) 5.00; 3. Shekhar Kumar Pandey (Uttar Pradesh) 5.00.
Long Jump: 1. Yugant Shekhar Singh (Railways) 7.59m; 2. Mohammed Asief (Kerala) 7.57; 3. S Arya (Karnataka) 7.49.
