Machettira Raju Poovamma (born 5 June 1990) is an Indian sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres distance.[1] As a member of the Indian 4 × 400 m relay teams she participated in the 2016 Olympics and won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games and 2013 and 2017 Asian championships; individually she won a silver medal in 2013 and a bronze in 2014 at those competitions. She received the Arjuna Award in 2015 for her contributions to athletics.[2]
Early life
Poovamma was born to M. G. Raju and Jaji. She completed her primary and higher education in Mangalore[3] and acquired her bachelor's degree in business management from the Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Business Management, Karnataka.[4] Her brother MR Manju also competed in the 400 m events at the national level.[5][6]
Career highlights
Poovamma won a silver medal in the 400 m and a gold in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games. She then won a senior national 400 m title in September 2011 in Kolkata. At the 2012 Asian Grands Prix Poovamma won two gold and a silver medal.[7] She also won a gold medal at the 2013 Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok. Poovamma represented India in the Moscow World Athletics Championships 2013[8] where she was also a part of the women's 4 × 400 m relay team.
She won the gold medal in women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea along with Tintu Luka, Mandeep Kaur and Priyanka Pawar.[9][10] The team clocked 3:28:68 to break the Games Record. This is India's 4th consecutive gold in the event since 2002.
In 2017 she was part of the winning 4 × 400 m team at the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar, which also included Debashree Mazumdar, Jisna Mathew and Nirmala Sheoran. The team had a problematic baton exchange, but Nirmala recovered the time in the final leg.[11]
Competition record
References
- ↑ Poovamma, India's newest quarter-miler. The Indian Express(25 April 2013).
- ↑ MR Poovamma, Asian Games Medallist, Gets Two-Year Ban By Anti-Doping Appeal Panel. www.outlookindia.com/(2022-09-20). Retrieved 2022-10-12.
- ↑ Poovamma – Youngest Indian athlete in Beijing. Mangalorean(2 September 2008).
- ↑ Confident Poovamma eyes more glory. Daily Pioneer(4 August 2013).
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedind - ↑ Poovamma Raju MACHETTIRA. gc2018.com
- ↑ Athletics: Hat-trick for Poovamma. The Hindu(13 May 2013).
- ↑ Ashwini, Poovamma in Indian relay squad for Moscow World Championships. Mangalore Today(21 July 2013).
- ↑ Indian eves clinch 4x400m relay gold at Asian Games 2014; set new Asiad record. India.Com(2 October 2014).
- ↑ search Medals. 2014 Asian Games Official website.
- ↑ Asian Athletics Championships 2017: Deconstruction of the gold standard. The Indian Express(12 July 2017). Retrieved 14 July 2017.