Paris Olympics: Jyothi Yarraji fails to make it to semis of women’s 100 m hurdles

Paris [France], August 8 (ANI): Indian athlete Jyothi Yarraji failed to make it to the semifinals of the women’s 100 m hurdles competition at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Thursday, finishing at fourth place in the repechage round heat one.

In the repechage round, Jyothi clocked in timings of 13.17 seconds to achieve the fourth-place finish, but the qualification was a privilege reserved for only the top two athletes from each heat.

Jyothi’s participation in the Olympics was a milestone for India as she became the first-ever Indian athlete to represent India at the event.

The athlete finished seventh in Heat 5 clocking a time of 13.16 seconds on Wednesday. She could not secure a direct spot in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, India’s marathon race walk mixed relay team, comprised of Suraj Panwar, and Priyanka Goswami, could not finish the final of the mixed relay event on Wednesday.

The Indian duo’s campaign ended prematurely at the 33.4km mark, shortly after the third exchange, due to multiple infractions involving loss of contact and bent knee issues.

The marathon race walk mixed relay saw Spain’s Alvaro Martin and Maria Perez emerge victorious with a time of 2:50:31.

Notably, star India javelin thrower and World Championships gold medalist javelin thrower Neeraj Chopra will be aiming to repeat his Tokyo 2020 heroics to retain his title at the ongoing Paris Olympics on Thursday.

Chopra registered a huge throw of 89.34 metres in Group B of the men’s javelin throw qualification round at the Paris Olympics on Tuesday and made his way into the finals.

The final will be played on Thursday at 11:55 pm IST. He successfully breached the qualification mark of 84.00 m.

However, the competition would be fierce as the final will feature the likes of Czech Republic’s Jakub Vadlejch, the 2020 silver medalist, Julian Weber of Germany, the 2022 European Champion and the two-time world champion, Anderson Peters from Grenada.

Pakistan’s Arshad Nadeem, who is also one of Neeraj’s closest rivals, joined the Indian star for the men’s javelin final with his season-best throw of 86.59 m. Arshad and Neeraj have developed a healthy rivalry over the years, with Neeraj dominating the head-to-head record 9-0. However, Arshad’s best effort of 90.18 m in the 2022 Commonwealth Games is ahead of Neeraj’s top effort.