VISAKHAPATNAM: Jyothi Yerraji, a second-year BA student, is just a couple of steps away from qualifying for the upcoming Asian Athletics Championship and Commonwealth Games. Jyothi hails from a modest background as her father Satyanarayana works as a security guard in Visakhapatnam’s Diamond Park area and mother Kumari is a house-help. Both hardly earn Rs 18,000 a month, she said.
However, the lack of financial resources is no deterrent for her as the hurdler aspires to represent the country in the Olympics. “I want to be able to take care of my family on my own...” she said. Representing her university (Acharya Nagarjuna University), Jyothi won a gold in the 81st all-India inter-university championship held in Bhubaneswar last month after clearing 100 m hurdles in a mere 13.72 second.
A gold medal in the 59th National Inter-State Senior Athletics Championship in Lucknow was her first shot to fame. She hurdled her way through 100 m in 13.03 seconds, thereby creating an ‘unofficial national record’, she claimed. At the insistence of her PT teacher at Salagramapuram Port Sports School, she joined SAI Hostel in Hyderabad in 2016 where she underwent training under the watchful eyes of her coach, Ramesh.
In 2018, she joined the Centre of Excellence at Guntur, but it was closed abruptly after a change of the government in the State. “I was selected for the national camp in 2020, but it, too, abruptly ended due to the pandemic,” she said.
Now gearing up for the world university championship to be held in China in July, she is getting trained at Reliance Foundation, Bhubaneswar under the guidance of coach James Hillier from the United Kingdom.
Jyothi, who now contributes Rs 5,000 to her family’s income, said her parents are happy with her performance in athletics.