Just recently, a video claiming that Indian track and field athlete Jyothi Yarraji has won a gold medal at the ongoing Asian Games 2023 has gone viral across social media, leaving netizens confused
Shockingly, it was acclaimed Indian playback singer Asha Bhosle who shared the viral video who was most probably misinformed.
Has Jyothi Yarraji won a gold medal at the Asian Games 2023 athletics as Asha Bhosle tweets video
Heartiest congratulations to Yaraaji from Andhra Pradesh for winning the Gold for 100mts hurdles at the Asian Games 🇮🇳🥇 pic.twitter.com/QzrfhyGmfV
— ashabhosle (@ashabhosle) September 26, 2023
This gold medal is true testament that dreams come true irrespective of circumstances. Way to go Jyothi Yaraaji 🥇 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/yIhuP0FA2Q
— Gautam Gambhir (@GautamGambhir) September 26, 2023
The fake news spread like wildfire as even other celebrities caught on and spread the new even further.
Viral video claiming Jyothi Yarraji has won a gold medal explained
Asha Bhosle shared the now viral video claiming Jyothi Yarraji won a gold medal at the Asian Games on Tuesday. The fact that the veteran singer shared the video, added a fall sense of credibility to the news. As such, many X/Twitter users followed suit and went on to congratulate Jyothi. Some even forwarded the video even across other platforms like WhatsApp stating it as India’s first gold medal in athletics at the ongoing Asian Games.
In fact, even former India cricketer Gautam Gambhir, who is a seating Member of Parliament (MP) made the same mistake. VVS Laxman, another legendary cricketer shared the same footage but later deleted it, after users started correcting him. In reality the viral video is actually a footage of Jyothi Yarraji winning a gold medal at the the Asian Athletics Championships earlier this year on July 13, 2023.
The women’s 100m hurdles event where Jytohi will compete, is still yet to take place at the Asian Games 2023. It will take place starting at 6:45 PM Indian Standard Time on October 1. In fact, the athletics events are only scheduled to begin at the Asian Games on September 29.
Similar cases in the past
The recent incident is quite similar to a previous case involving Indian sprinter Hima Das. Just like in Jyothi’s case, fake news about Hima winning a gold medal in the Commonwealth Games in 2022 went viral even before she had competed in her event. Reports later indicated that the viral video was from the 2018 World Athletics Championships.