Vithya Ramraj (born 20 September 1998) is an Indian athlete from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. She is a three-time National champion. She competes in

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Summer Olympics, Olympic Sport of athletics, athletics programme since 1900 Summer Olympics, 1900 for men and since 1984 Summer Olympics, 1984 for women. On a ...

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

and

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

. On 2 October 2023 at the

2022 Asian Games The 2022 Asian Games (), officially the 19th Asian Games () and also known as Hangzhou 2022 ( zh, c=, s=杭州2022, labels=no), were a continental multi-sport event which was held from 23 September to 8 October 2023 in Hangzhou, China. The ...

, she equalled the Indian national record of 55.42s in

400m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ar ...

set by P. T. Usha at the Los Angeles Olympics in 1984.

Early life

Vithya hails from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. Her father is a truck driver and her mother Meena is a home maker. Her identical twin Nithya is also an athlete. Vithya works with

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

. The girls started playing hockey and her mother enrolled them in the Erode Girls Sports School for Class 7. She earned her BBA Degree from

Kongu Arts and Science College The Kongu Arts and Science College is an arts and science college in Nanjanapuram, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, se ...

, Erode (2016 to 2019) on a sports scholarship provided by the KVIT Trust, Perundurai. She received good support from the college management and faculty. Dr. A. Sankar, Director of Physical Education at Kongu Arts and Science College, Erode, encouraged and supported her training and participation in national-level events.

Career

Till 2017, Vithya also ran 100m and 200m sprint events but later focussed on 400m hurdles. But she and her coach decided that she will do both 400m and 400m hurdles and she is also continuing with both 100m events. The tournaments she took part in 2023 are: She won a silver medal at the2022 Asian Games, winning the 4x400m mixed relay team along with

Muhammad Ajmal Variyathodi Muhammad Ajmal Variyathodi (born 1 June 1998) is an Indian track and field athlete who specializes in the 400 metres. He won a silver medal at the mixed 4 × 400 metres relay event at the 2022 Asian Games. In 2023, he won a gold medal in the 4× ...

, Rajesh Ramesh and Subha Venkatesan. * 15–17 May 2023: 100m and 100m hurdles - Birsa Munda Foot Ball Stadium, Morabadi, Ranchi (IND); * 17 June 2023: relay - Indian Championships,

Kalinga Stadium The Kalinga Stadium is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose international sports complex in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India. Its foundation stone was laid by then chief minister of Odisha Biju Patnaik in 1978. It is best known as the home ground ...

, Bhubaneshwar (IND); * 13 July 2023: 100m hurdles -

Asian Athletics Championships The Asian Athletics Championships is an event organized by the Asian Athletics Association. History The competition courted controversy with the IAAF when political in-fighting arose after Israel was excluded from participation in 1977. That edi ...

, Supachalasai National Stadium, Bangkok (THA); * 30 July 2023: relay, mixed relay - Mahinda Rajapaksha Stadium, Diyagama (SRI) * 10, 11 September 2023: 400m, 400m hurdles - Indian Grand Prix 5, Chandigarh (IND). * 2024: Ramraj represented India at the 2024 Paris Olympics as part of the women's 4x400m relay team. The team, which included Jyothika Sri Dandi, Subha Venkatesan, MR Poovamma, Prachi, and Vithya Ramraj, competed in the qualification round on August 9, 2024. They finished 15th out of 16 teams with a timing of 3:32.51, which was insufficient to advance to the final round. * 2025: Ramraj won bronze in the 400m hurdles at the 2025 Asian Athletics Championships in Gumi, South Korea. She also placed fifth in the 400m flat race with a time of 53.00 seconds. Earlier, she claimed gold in the 400m hurdles at the National Federation Cup in Kochi with a meet record of 56.04 seconds.

References

External links

*
Olympics.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramraj, Vithya 1998 births Living people Indian female hurdlers Indian female sprinters Sportspeople from Coimbatore Athletes from Tamil Nadu Sportswomen from Tamil Nadu Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for India Athletes (track and field) at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Medalists at the 2022 Asian Games Asian Athletics Championships medalists Asian Games silver medalists in athletics (track and field) 21st-century Indian sportswomen