'Hurdler Yarraji shaping well for Paris': Coach

Jyothi Yarraji and James Hillier

When Jyothi Yarraji leaps past each hurdle in her bid to reach the finish line, it feels like she is trying to put behind all the struggles that her mother Kumari underwent while working in double shifts as a domestic help and a cleaner at a local hospital in Visakhapatnam.

It is her gutsy mother's positive mindset while struggling for sustenance that Yarraji would like to carry when she gets on the starting blocks of her 100m hurdles heats during the Paris Olympics. Yarraji will become the first Indian to compete in the Olympics 100m hurdles as she made it to the Paris Games through the world ranking quota.

"In the past, I did too much thinking, too much worried because of my family, my personal life and my background but I learnt a lot," Yarraji said in a virtual media interaction facilitated by Reliance Foundation.

Also Read: Yarraji equals women's 100m hurdle NR; misses Oly qualifying by 0.01s

"In the past, there was no great team around me. Now I have lots of positive people, a great team. That is helping me a lot. I always take the positivity with me. I try to change the negative thoughts into positive ones," she said, referring to her support system led by her coach James Hillier.

"She is in the best shape I have ever seen, physically and mentally. She can run significantly faster than her best timing. She has done that during training. She wants to run below 12.70 seconds," said Hillier, adding that the injury she suffered in May was "weirdly a good thing."

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