Athletics: Jyothi Yarraji wins in 12.99s as India claims six gold in Taiwan Open
Mumbai: Jyothi Yarraji, Tejas Ashok Shirse, and Abdulla Aboobacker won the gold as India dominated the track in the 2025 Taiwan Athletics Open, finishing with six gold medals in the World Athletics Continental Tour Bronze meet held in Taipei on Saturday.
Pooja in women’s 1500m and the quartet of Sudheeksha Vadluri, Sneha Sathyanarayana Shanuvalli, Abinaya Rajarajan, and Nithya Gandhe in the women’s 4x100m relay picked the other two gold medals for India in the event. The Indian quartet of Gurindervir Singh, Animesh Kujur, Manikanta Hoblidhar, and Amlan Borgohain added to the gold rush by winning the men’s 4x100m relay race.
Jyothi, who recently broke the national record in the women’s 100m hurdles of 12.96 at the Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea, last month, went under 13 seconds once again. She surged to victory in a field of eight with a time of 12.99 seconds. Jyothi got off to a good start, took an early lead, and won the race with a strong finish. Asuka Terada of Japan took silver in 13.04 seconds while her compatriot Chisato Kiyoyama won the bronze medal in 12.10 seconds. Jyothi, who had earlier qualified for the final by winning Heat 1 in 13.18 seconds.
In the men’s 110m hurdles, Tejast Shirse came first in 13.52 seconds to claim the gold medal, winning with a tailwind of +1.5 as compared to 1.067 m/s. Yuan Kai Hsieh of Taiwan finished second in 13.72 seconds.
In the men’s triple jump, Aboobacker came first with a leap of 16.21m, which he achieved in the third turn. He started with 15.80m and then 15.97m in the second. She fouled the fourth jump before closing it out with 15.33 and 15.81m in his fifth and sixth. Li Yun-Chen of Taiwan and Zhou Zheng Jia finished third.
Pooja set a competition record (CR) of 4:11.63 to win the women’s 1500 metres, bettering the old record of 4:15.81. Jon Su Gyong of PR Korea finished second in 4:28.03 while Hiu Tung Tsang of Hong Kong came third in 4:34.92.
The Indian women’s 4x100m relay team of Sudheeksha Vadluri, Sneha Sathyanarayana Shanuvalli, Abinaya Rajarajan, and Nithya Gandhe set a competition record (CR) of 44.07, improving on the old record of 44.50 seconds.
The men’s 3x100m relay team bagged the sixth gold for India, finishing the race in 38.75 seconds.