Sun City, May 22 -- Indian rally-raid rider Harith Noah was forced to withdraw from the South African Safari Rally, the Round 3 of 2025 FIA-FIM World Rally-Raid Championship (W2RC), following a crash at the beginning of Stage 1, according to a release from W2RC.

Harith encountered a jackal that jumped in front of his bike, and while attempting to brake and manoeuvre around the animal, he crashed, resulting in significant swelling in his right hand. He got up and showed resilience, riding 20 kilometres more before withdrawing due to loss of grip strength and pain from the fall.

Harith had made a good start to the rally, finishing 5th in the Prologue Stage of Rally 2 with a timing of 7:44.1 s, marking his return to rally-raid after he had...