Asian champion 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji undergoes successful knee surgery to repair ACL tear

New Delhi, Jul 14 (PTI) Asian champion and national record holder 100m hurdler Jyothi Yarraji has undergone a successful knee surgery which will not only rule her out of the World Championships in September but also bring curtains to her season.

The 25-year-old Yarraji informed on her social media handle that she underwent surgery on Friday to repair an ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament) tear on her right knee. The procedure was performed by the well known surgeon Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala.

“Hello everyone, I’m happy to share that this Friday, I successfully underwent a successful surgery to repair an ACL tear on my right knee with Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala. The past few weeks have been tough for me, as this injury has stopped me from doing what I love the most,” Yarraji wrote on Instagram.

An ACL tear surgery normally takes at least six months to heal. That would mean that Yarraji will be ruled out of the Tokyo World Championships (September 13-21) and she will be able to come back to action only next year.

“However, with the support of my family, friends, the teams at TOPS, media.iccsai, afiindia official and rfyouthsports coachjameshillier and all of you, I am taking this in my stride and hoping to be back very soon. The journey to a stronger version of me starts now and I’m going to put in my 100% and more to be back on track soon,” said the injury-prone athlete..

Yarraji, also an Asian Games silver medallist, had announced earlier this month that she suffered a "freak" knee injury while training. Her coach James Hillier told PTI that the injury was "pretty bad".

Before the injury struck her, she was having a high chance of qualifying for the World Championships, though she has not breached the direct qualification time of 12.73 second.

Her 12.96 second effort while winning gold in the Asian Championships in May has put her among the athletes who can make it to the World Championships through the world ranking quota.

Athletes can qualify for the World Championships in two ways -- direct entry by breaching the qualification mark or through world ranking quota. The qualification window is till August 24.

Yarraji came back this season after suffering a hip flexor injury during training in Finland after the 2024 Paris Olympics, impacting her training stint.

At the start of the 2025 season, she tweaked her technique, switching from a seven-stride approach to her original eight-stride approach, which she believes will reduce injury risk.

She won gold in 100m hurdles and 200m race in the Uttarakhand National Games in February, bagged the top spot in the 100m hurdles in the Federation Cup before defending her Asian Championships title.

Her last title was in the Taiwan Athletics Open on June 7. PTI PDS PDS KHS