New Delhi: Fresh from her Asian Games double medal winning feat, athlete M.R. Poovamma Friday warned her rivals ahead of the National Open Athletics Championships starting Sunday at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, stating she would settle for nothing less than gold.
Poovamma won gold as a member of the 4×400 metre women’s relay race and bronze in the 400m individual event at the 2014 Asian Games.
The 24-year-old athlete arrived here Friday for the Championships and said she was confident about her form.
“I’m going for the gold at the ONGC National Open Athletics Championships. This is the last race of this season and I may not be able to focus on my timing,” said Poovamma.
She expressed happiness with her overall form this season, which brought “the best moment of my athletics career till now”.
“For four years I trained to win a medal in the Asian Games. One expected a good finish in the relay race but I was on a high after winning my first individual medal in the Asian Games. It was the best moment of my career till now,” the Karnataka-based athlete said.
Poovamma, who is currently ranked No.2 in Asia in the 400m said her next target was to break fellow athlete Manjit Kaur’s national record.
“In 2015, I’ll be focussing on breaking the national record of 51.05 seconds and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) World Championships and the Asian Championships.”
