Jyothi Yarraji wins India’s first gold medal at 2023 Asian Athletics Championships

Jyothi Yarraji won India's first gold medal at the 25th Asian Athletics Championship in Bangkok on Thursday.

Jyothi won the 100m hurdles gold medal in a rain-marred final, which probably caused her to clock a time of more than 13 seconds - 13.09s. Earlier in the heats, she had topped with a time of 12.98 seconds - her sixth sub-13s run of the year.

This was the second medal in India's tally after Abhishek Pal's bronze in the 10,000m event a day ago, but Jyothi's gold medal brought about a medal shower, which included two other gold medals won by Ajay Kumar Saroj (1500m) and Abdulla Aboobacker (Triple Jump).

Not only is this India's first medal at this edition of the Asian Athletics Championships, this is also India's first ever gold medal in the 100m hurdles event in all editions of this meet. Having become the new Asian champion, Jyothi has also registered crucial ranking points which will help her to qualify for the World Championships in Budapest.