HANGZHOU: Despite finishing third in the women’s 100-meter hurdles race at the Hangzhou Asian Games on Sunday due to a contentious false start that raised questions about whether she would be disqualified later on, India’s Jyothi Yarraji was awarded a silver medal instead.

Yarraji was a strong medal contender, but not before she had to vehemently defend herself and the race had to be restarted amid confusion. Yarraji finished the restarted race in 12.91 seconds.

The drama was caused by China’s Wu Yanni’s faulty start, and India’s Yarraji made a stride on instinct following her move. The race was stopped and both racers were first informed by officials that they had been disqualified for a false start.

Wu and Yarraji both resisted and stood their ground against what had happened explaining their cases to the officials who were watching the TV monitors next to the track. Replays made it quite evident that Wu made a run first before the starting whistle and Yarraji followed her next.