Star athlete Jyothi Yarraji won India’s first ever 100m hurdles medal — a bronze — at the World University Games while smashing her own national record time at Chengdu on Friday. Another national record holder sprinter, Amlan Borgohain also won India’s first ever 200m medal at the World University Games as he picked a bronze medal with a season’s best time of 20.55 seconds. Before Friday, India has won just four medals in track and field events at the World University Games. In sprint races, only Dutee Chand had won a medal — a 100m gold in 2019 edition — in the World University Games before Yarraji and Borgohain’s bronze medals on Friday.
The 23-year-old Yarraji clocked 12.78 seconds to finish third in the women’s 100m hurdles final, bettering her earlier national mark of 12.82 seconds which she had recorded in October 2022.
Viktoria Forster of Slovakia won the gold medal, clocking 12.72, while Yanni Wu of China took the silver with a time of 12.76.
The 25-year-old Borgohain missed his own national record of 20.52 by a whisker.
Tsebo Isadore Matsoso of South Africa won the gold with a time of 20.36 while Yudai Nishi of Japan was second in 20.46.
With the two medals on Friday, India now has won 11 gold, 5 silver and 9 bronze, placed at fourth spot in the standings. China is on top of the medals tally, followed by Korea and Japan.
Indian athletics’ first medal at the World University Games came in the 2013 edition in Kazan, Russia, where shot putter Inderjeet Singh won a silver. Inderjeet went on to win a gold in the 2015 edition in Gwangju, South Korea.
In the 2017 edition in Taipei, Sanjivani Jadhav won a silver in 10,000m race before Dutee Chand clinched a 100m gold in 2019 in Naples, Italy.
