TOI ( Times of India) source said that the India’s leading women’s 400m sprinter Poovamma quits national camp in Patiala due to injury. The TOI source reported IANS, “Due to injury Poovamma didn’t compete in the final selection trials held for today (Sunday) in Patiala to select two female athletes for the mixed 4x400m relay Indian team.”
This created a huge setback for the Athletics Federation Of India (AFI) to make a strong 400m relay team for the Tokyo Olympics 2020 which is starting from July 23. Though the sprinter had good medical facilities at the National Institute of Sports, she decided to go back to her home state, Karnataka for treatment. Poovamma has been a consistent 400m runner from the start of the season. In the National Inter-State Athletics Championships, she had finished second with a time of 53.54 seconds last month in Patiala.
The president of AFI, Adille Sumariwalla did not comment. The mixed team of men’s and women had qualified for the Olympics during the Doha World Championships by becoming the finalist. On the other hand, the men’s 4x400m relay team has qualified for the Olympics, though, the women’s 4x400m relay team could not cut before the June 29 deadline which was set by World Athletics to achieve qualification norms.
