New Delhi: Hurdler Jyothi Yarraji marked a winning return to competition from a year-long injury layoff with a sub-13s run on the opening day of National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Representing Andhra Pradesh, the 26-year-old ran 100m hurdles in 12.99s to comfortably win the race ahead of Tamil Nadu’s Nandhini K (13.22s) and Odisha’s Pragyan Prasant Sahu (13.48s). She breached AFI’s entry standard (13.34s) for the Asian Games in the heats itself (13.14s).
With both her legs wrapped in kinesiology tape, Yarraji thanked her supporters and the media after the win. “I am very happy to be back. I missed being here, I missed all of you,” she said.
Yarraji injured her right knee during training last June and underwent surgery for an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) tear. ACL surgeries may take up to a year to recover. With no major competitions lined up in the first half of 2026, she could take her time. The time away from sport was not easy, Yarraji said, and she often worried about her future.
“Sometimes I would think, ‘Is this it? Is my journey destined to end here?’ But AFI, my coach and team kept pushing me,” Yarraji, who is supported by Reliance Foundation, said. “I got injured last year on this very date, and to come back and win exactly a year on is special.”
A major game-changer was her recent stint with strength and conditioning expert Wayne Lombard. Yarraji and Lombard started working together just three months ago, but the association “did wonders to my recovery,” she said.
The reigning national record holder (12.78s), Yarraji was expected to compete at last month’s Federation Cup in Ranchi which was a qualifier for the Commonwealth Games, but pulled her hamstring ahead of the meet.
“But I am back now, and I won’t cede my place so easily,” she announced, referring to Nandhini who won the Federation Cup in her absence.
“I saw some people saying she is the new 100m hurdles queen and so on. All the best to whoever won, but now that I am back, I am not going anywhere. It won’t be easy to dethrone me.”
On her comeback, Yarraji’s focus was to enjoy the race and not think about the timings. The Asian Games mark, she said, was never going to be a problem. “Honestly, I wasn’t thinking of the timings. The coach asked me to have fun and enjoy the run. There is still some issue with the balance but that’ll improve as I run more,” she said.
“I am still rehabilitating. There are about three months to go for the Asiad and I will be fully ready by then,” Yarraji, who won a silver medal at the 2023 Hangzhou Games, added.
In other major results of the day, pole vaulter Dev Meena bettered the national record to 5.46m and met the Asian Games qualifying mark (5.45m). In women’s hammer throw, 18-year-old Anushka Yadav broke the national record with a throw of 67.02m. The earlier mark stood at 65.25m.
