India, June 24 -- Hurdler Jyothi Yarraji marked a winning return to competition from a year-long injury layoff with a sub-13s run on the opening day of National Inter State Senior Athletics Championships in Bhubaneswar on Wednesday. Representing Andhra Pradesh, the 26-year-old ran 100m hurdles in 12.99s to comfortably win the race ahead of Tamil Nadu's Nandhini K (13.22s) and Odisha's Pragyan Prasant Sahu (13.48s). She breached AFI's entry standard (13.34s) for the Asian Games in the heats itself (13.14s).

With both her legs wrapped in kinesiology tape, Yarraji thanked her supporters and the media after the win. "I am very happy to be back. I missed being here, I missed all of you," she said.

Yarraji injured her right knee during traini...