India's Jyothi Yarraji wins historic bronze medal in 100m hurdles at World University Games

Chengdu: Indian athlete Jyothi Yarraji won the country's first-ever medal in the women's 100m hurdles. She achieved the remarkable feat at the World University Games in Chengdu.

Yarraji clinched the bronze medal while smashing her own national record time on Friday. Jyothi Yarraji, 23 years old, displayed an outstanding performance, clocking 12.78 seconds in the women's 100m hurdles final, surpassing her own national record of 12.82 seconds set in October 2022.

Viktoria Forster of Slovakia won gold with a time of 12.72, and Yanni Wu of China took silver with a time of 12.76.

Before this achievement, India had won just four medals in track and field events at the World University Games, with Dutee Chand being the sole sprint race medalist, winning a 100m gold in the 2019 edition.

Another Indian sprinter, Amlan Borgohain, also made history by securing India's first-ever 200m medal at the World University Games, earning a bronze with a season's best time of 20.55 seconds. The 25 years old narrowly missed breaking his own national record of 20.52, but his excellent performance secured him the bronze medal in the men's 200m event. Tsebo Isadore Matsoso of South Africa won gold with a time of 20.36, while Yudai Nishi of Japan took silver with a time of 20.46.

With Yarraji and Borgohain's historic bronze medals, India's medal tally at the World University Games has increased to 11 gold, 5 silver, and 9 bronze, placing the country at the fourth spot in the overall standings. China currently leads the medals tally, followed by Korea and Japan.

Indian athletics' first medal at the World University Games came in the 2013 edition, where shot putter Inderjeet Singh won silver in Kazan, Russia. Inderjeet later won gold in the 2015 edition in Gwangju, South Korea. In the 2017 edition in Taipei, Sanjivani Jadhav secured a silver in the 10,000m race, and Dutee Chand won a historic 100m gold in the 2019 edition in Naples, Italy.