CHENNAI: Quadriceps, hamstrings and (another) knee – these are the other injuries hurdler Jyothi Yarraji had to battle through in her 383-day-long road to being fit from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
In June last year, she injured her knee while training, which resulted in her rupturing her ACL. It came at a time when the 26-year-old had just defended her Asian Championships medal with a 12.96-second run.
After a tumultuous year where she spent days recovering with the Reliance Foundation, Yarraji made her presence ever so strong in June’s Inter-state Championships with a 12.99s run in the women’s 100m hurdles final. Then, she bettered her mark this season with a 12.85s run in an invitational event in Belgium.
But her biggest challenge of the season did not come until Saturday at the Kalinga Stadium, where the World Athletics Continental Silver Level meet took place. It all had to do with the field. Yarraji’s Asian rival Yumi Tanaka – with a season best of 12.81 seconds; Charisma Taylor with a personal best of 12.63s; and Brazilian hurdler Vitoria Alves with a season and personal best of 12.57s are the runners she got to run along with in the evening.
Yarraji, for one, could not hold her excitement. “It is all about clocking a good time out there!,” she told this daily before the race.
Likewise, her coach and athletics director at the Reliance Foundation, James Hillier, explained how it would benefit her. “She's absolutely delighted. All we have ever asked for is races with faster girls. We were worried that she might be competing here and she would go on and win it easily. What would I rather have: her win in 12.8s or come second in 12.6s? I'd much rather she come second in 12.6, of course. It's not about position. It's about being competitive,” he told this daily before Saturday’s race.
While the timings may not be exactly around that range, Yarraji managed a credible third-place finish with a 13.24s mark. Charisma finished with 12.96 and Tanka with 13.04. “It's about practising some pressure situations that she's going to face at the Asian Games,” Hillier added.
That way, Yarraji’s objective of lowering the timings and bringing home a medal from the Asian Games is still on, in some ways.