"Jyothi Yarraji was robbed in front of 80,000 people today" - Twitter reacts to Indian athlete's false start controversy Asian Games 2023
Indian sprinter Jyothi Yarraji was involved in a lot of drama in the Women’s 100m Hurdles final at the ongoing Asian Games 2023 on Sunday, October 1. She was initially accused of a false start and was nearly disqualified from the race.
The Asian Games officials called out Yarraji and Chinese athlete Wu Yanni for starting the race early before the trigger moment. Wu Yaani started off the earliest and Yarraji, who was in the next lane to the Chinese, was the second among the blocks.
However, Jyothi Yarraji fulminated against the officials’ decision to disqualify her. Both Yarraji and Yaani were permitted to continue the final race but post-race review was conducted for a final verdict on the false start disqualification.
Yarraji’s momentum, apparently, was disturbed as she got to a slower start than what she had been used to. However, the Andhra Pradesh-born sprinter finished third with a timing of 12.91s. Her position was eventually upgraded from third to second after Wu Yaani was disqualified under the rule TR 16.8.
The Indian supporters back at home were livid with the false start controversy. Many believed that the incident affected Jyothi Yarraji’s performance in the restarted race. Indian decathlete Tejaswin Shankar lamented the local player’s inappropriate act which robbed Yarraji of a better show.
Here are some of the reactions over Jyothi Yarraji’s false start accusations against
What is the false start rule of Athletics of which Jyothi Yarraji has been cleared?
A false start in the track and field leads to the disqualification of the athlete. A false start is considered when a runner/sprinter starts off the race early from their block even before the sound of the starting gun has been blown.
To make the rule crystal clear, a false start occurs when a runner responds to the gun faster than 1/10th of the second, which is 0.1 second. A device called ReacTime assists the officials in detecting false starts. Reactime measures the pressure of an athlete's foot, which is placed on the starting block. The information is transmitted to a computer.