For someone who has won gold medals at the Asian Games, the Commonwealth Games and the Asian championship, a medal at a National meet may not mean much, you would have thought. For M.R. Poovamma though, the gold she won on the final day of the Federation Cup athletics was nothing short of a dream coming true.
“As someone who has learnt running on these very tracks, this gold means an awful lot to me,” Poovamma told The Hindu , shortly before going on to the podium to collect her medal for winning the 400m race.
“I have lived and studied most of my life here in Mangaluru. My parents and relatives were all there to see me run. So I am very, very happy.”
The main objective of the meet is to select the Indian team for the Asian athletics championship, to be held in China next month, and a mere gold would not be enough for that. You have to meet a specific standard. Poovamma did that.
On the opening day of the meet, Sahana Kumari, the high-jumper, who too was desperate to perform well on home turf, was distraught when she failed to meet the qualifying mark, despite winning the gold.
