Jyothi Yarraji Set to Become India's First Hurdler to Participate in Olympics

Jyothi Yarraji is poised to become the first Indian 100m hurdler to participate in the Olympics, while shot putter Abha Khatua surprisingly secured a spot through world rankings for the upcoming Paris Games.

The World Athletics recently released the names of athletes who qualified directly by meeting the entry standard or through the world ranking quota.

The final decision on selecting athletes from the world ranking quota will rest with the Athletics Federation of India (AFI).

National Olympic Committees have time till July 4 midnight to inform WA if they want to decline a quota. From July 4-6, WA will redistribute the declined quota spots to the next highest-ranked athlete in the same event. The updated list will then be published on July 7.

Yarraji clocked a time of 12.78 seconds in a Finland event in May, narrowly missing the automatic qualification time of 12.77 seconds. She currently holds the 34th position in the world ranking quota list, with 40 athletes set to compete in the event in Paris.

Khatua, who achieved a national record of 18.41m at the Federation Cup, initially missed out on the world ranking quota spot. Her outstanding achievement of a 17.63m jump at the National Inter-State Championships has secured her the 23rd position, among 32 athletes who will be competing in the Olympics.

Sarvesh Anil Kushare, the high jumper who secured gold at the National Inter-State Championships with a jump of 2.25m, has also met the qualification criteria.

Javelin thrower DP Manu has qualified, but will not be able to participate in the Paris Games due to a recent doping violation. Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena have secured direct qualification spots.

Long jumper Jeswin Aldrin narrowly missed the world ranking quota, but may still have a chance if selected by AFI. M Sreeshankar, another Indian long jumper, earned automatic qualification but is unable to compete due to an injury.

Four men's 20km race walkers have surpassed the automatic qualification standard, leaving AFI to choose three of them.

Each event can only have a maximum of three athletes representing a country.

Indian athletes who have secured a spot in the Paris Olympics have done so either by surpassing the qualification standard or by earning a spot through world ranking quota.

The athletes who have qualified include

Kiran Pahal in the women's 400m, Jyothi Yarraji in the women's 100m hurdles,
Parul Chaudhary in the women's 3000m steeplechase and 5000m,
Abha Khatua in the women's shot put,
Priyanka Goswami in the women's 20km race walk,
Annu Rani in the women's javelin throw,
Women's 4x400m relay team,
Sarvesh Anil Kushare in the men's high jump,
Avinash Sable in the men's 3000m steeplechase,
Abdulla Aboobacker and Praveen Chithavel in the men's triple jump,
Neeraj Chopra and Kishore Jena in the men's javelin throw,
Tajinderpal Singh Toor in the men's shot put,
Ram Baboo, Akshdeep Singh, Vikash Singh, and Paramjeet Singh Bisht in the men's 20km race walk.
Additionally, the men's 4x400m relay team and the marathon race walk mixed relay team have also qualified for the Olympics.