Amlan wins bronze in World University Games, qualifies for Asian Games

GUWAHATI, Aug 4: Amlan Borgohain ran his best time of the season to win bronze in the men’s 200m event in the World University Games being held in Chengdu, China on Friday.

With this, Amlan also qualified for Asian Games.

Amlan ran the 2nd fastest time ever by an Indian in the men's 200m event. The Reliance Foundation athlete clocked his season best of 20.55s in the final to win bronze behind South Africa’s Isadore Matsoso (20.36s) and Japan’s Nishi Yudai (20.46s).

In the men’s 200m, the new qualifying mark for Asian Games is 20.61s, raised by 0.1s from 2022.

Jyothi Yarraji:

Fresh off a historic gold medal winning effort at the Asian Athletics Championships, Jyothi Yarraji continued her blistering run of form to win bronze in the women’s 100m hurdles event.

The session was special for India as Jyothi ran the fastest time ever by an Indian in her event.

After a quiet day, Jyothi and Borgohain's medals in quick succession brought a lot of cheer to the Indian contingent. Jyothi rewrote the national record, which already stands in her name, by clocking a time of 12.78s in the final.

The final saw a very high-quality race with all the three medallists clocking their personal bests. Jyothi had previously topped her semi-final to advance to the final. This was the 9th time that she has clocked a time below 13s in the event. She’s the only Indian in history to breach the 13s barrier in the event.

Speaking after the final, James Hillier, Athletics Director, Reliance Foundation, said: “This is another impressive medal winning performance for Jyothi. Incredibly, it comes with a personal best and national record number 10. What makes the effort even more special is that it came in the final of a global championships. She held her nerve well and very professionally controlled herself through the qualifying rounds in order to save energy for the final. This is a great performance and another step towards the World Championships and the Asian Games.”

“Amlan has worked really hard in the lead up to the tournament. To clock two of his four fastest timings ever in the semis and final is a superlative effort for him. To get a medal in this quality field wasn’t easy and will give him a lot of confidence.”

Jyothi’s previous best was a timing of 12.82s, which she had achieved at the National Open Athletics Championships in Bengaluru in 2022. Slovakia’s Viktoria Forster won Gold with a timing of 12.72s, while China’s Yanni Wu won silver, clocking 12.76s.

Jyothi’s medal was only India’s second in athletics at this edition of the World University Games. Jyothi was taking part in the tournament for the first time.