Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (RJP)
Mangalore, Oct 3: Not happy with a bronze medal in the women’s 400 metre race event on Sunday 28th September, M J Poovamma has a bought a special news for Indians especially Mangaloreans by winning gold in the women's 4x400 metres relay title at the 17th Incheon Asian Games on Thursday.
Poovamma along with Priyanka Panwar, Tintu Luka and Mandeep Kaur successfully set a record in women's 4x400 metres relay with a timing of 3:28:68.
“We were very confident of winning the gold. We wanted to make up for the Commonwealth Games horror which hurt us badly. We trained a lot during the trials at Patiala. It is brilliant team effort.” Said Poovamma in Incheon after winning the gold.
In the women’s event last Sunday, Poovamma had won the bronze by finishing her race in 52.36 seconds, falling slightly short of her previous best of 51.73 seconds.
Poovamma’s father Raju, a labour and security contractor at the Mangalore international airport, her mother Jaji and her brother Manju are happy about Poovamma’s achievement and are busy accepting congratulatory messages from people. They are anxiously waiting for Poovamma’s arrival.
"We are very excited that her hard work has paid off. I wished her good luck and told her to run bravely." says Poovamma’s mother proudly.
"We are proud that she is the anchor leg runner. She was not happy when she bagged a bronze in the women's 400m race. She was waiting for gold." Manju says. Manju also a national level athlete, presently works for LIC.
The family originally from Coorg district lives in Urwa Stores in Mangalore. Poovamma finished her graduation at SDM College and is employed with ONGC in Dehradun.
Her focus is on the next Olympics now.