Disqualified for ‘no fault’, the star runner gets 100m hurdles silver
Hangzhou (China): The disbelief and bewilderment on Jyothi Yarraji’s face was all too obvious and the hopes of Asaiad glory disappearing, when an official approached her and showed her the red card for the women’s 100m hurdles final for no fault of hers, a special report by Rohit Mahajan in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says
The race had a false start, but not not on account of Jyothi. China’s Wu Yanni had jumped the gun, so she was disqualified. But an official then walked up to Jyothi and told her that she was out, too.Since.she was in the next lane to Yanni’s, she had possibly reacted to the Chinese’s runner’s trigger movement.
“I didn’t do a false start,” Jyothi said later. “I had to fight for what was right.” .
After intense drama, during which the packed Olympic Park stadium buzzed with excitement and support for the home runner, both were allowed to run, subject to a review.
The rule is that if a runner makes a false start, only she/he is to be disqualified, because “when one or more athletes make a false start, others are inclined to follow and … any athlete who does so has also made a false start.
The starter should warn or disqualify only such athlete or athletes who, in their opinion, were responsible for the false start”. Such are the rules, but they were not followed strictly, and Jyothi was shown the red card.
India immediately protested, and the sum of $100 that had to be given as a fee for the purpose was readily proffered. The race resumed, with both Jyothi and Yanni back in it.
This time, her mind in a whirl, as she admitted later, Jyothi’s start was slower than ideal. A 100m hurdles race starts and ends in a blur, but Jyothi was able to make up for the poor start and finished third behind two Chinese runners, Lin Yuwei and Yanni. qualifying for a bronze.
But the Indian camp was upset because Yanni had clearly false-started. “Jyoti Yarraji was robbed in front of 80,000 people today!” high-jumper Tejaswin Shankar wrote on social media.
“Yanni, nice girl, was ready to move away,” said an indignant Anju Bobby George, the former long-jumper, as she explained why Yanni should have been disqualified, and not Jyothi.
“Jyothi’s hands were on the ground, and she was still on the blocks when Yanni was off!” In such a scenario, only the false-starter, who may have triggered the others to follow her, should have been disqualified, she said.
The review process, meanwhile, continued, and Yanni was disqualified and Jyothi was elevated to second place, India’s final silver of the night.
By the time Jyothi held her press conference, she had got a silver, and thus was composed and gracious and thankful. But before that, immediately after finishing the race, she had been distraught. “It’s completely messy for me. I broke down… I was completely down and upset to suddenly see a red flag for me. I didn’t do a false start,” she said.
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