Athletics: India's Jyothi Yarraji strikes gold in Netherlands

New Delhi: National record holder 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji won gold at the Harry Schulting Games at Vught, the Netherlands, as she achieved success in the first outdoor competition of the season on Thursday.

The 24-year-old Yarraji, who won a silver in the Hangzhou Asian Games last year, clocked 12.87 seconds — her fourth career best — to win gold in the World Athletics category E event.

Yarraji is well on course to qualify for the Paris Olympics on the basis of world rankings even though she has not touched the 2.77 second qualifying standard for Paris Olympics.

She is currently on the 26th spot in the Road to Paris list of World Athletics. Forty runners will compete in the women’s 100m hurdles in Paris Olympics, out of which 25 will be through entry standard and 15 will be through world rankings.

Yarraji’s national record stands at 12.78 second which she achieved during the World University Games last year. She had won gold in 60m hurdles in the Asian Indoor Championships in February in Tehran.