Reliance Foundation athlete Jyoti Yaraji won the first medal for India by winning gold in the 60m event with a new national record time of 8.12 seconds at the ongoing Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in Tehran. The performance marks a great start to the 2024 season for Jyoti, who had bettered her NR at last year's edition in Kazakhstan, where she won the silver medal.
Talking about her achievement, Jyoti Yaraji said that the Asian Indoor Athletics Championship was a great experience. I am very happy with the performance. This gold medal is special. I was a little worried about hamstring pain last week but my team and the physiotherapists at Reliance Foundation worked hard to prepare me for the competition. I am grateful to the Government of Odisha and Reliance Foundation for helping me prepare for the competition. I am happy with the way I have started the season.
Jyoti trained at the Kalinga Indoor Athletics Stadium for the competition. He also participated in the first Indoor Athletics Test Meet organized by Odisha Reliance Foundation Athletics High Performance Centre. Jyoti has continued her performance from 2023. Where he won a silver medal in 100 meters hurdles in the Asian Games and also won two medals in the Asian Championships.
Commenting on her performance, Reliance Foundation Athletics Director James Hillier said that it was a really good result for Jyoti. We trained for 3 weeks in Bhubaneswar. He was injured during training. Although the injury was not serious, she was unable to train for a week. Now she is back in form. It was a good race for him.