Tokyo Olympics: Setback for women’s relay team as 400m sprinter Poovamma leaves camp with injury: India’s leading women’s 400m runner MR Poovamma has quit
the national camp in Patiala due to an injury, said a source late on Sunday evening.
“Due to an injury Poovamma didn’t compete in the final selection trials held for today [Sunday] here in Patiala to select two female athletes for the mixed 4x400m relay Indian team,” the source told IANS.
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The development could result in a big setback for the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) to field a strong 4x400m mixed relay team at the Tokyo Olympic Games, starting July 23.
Despite having good medical facilities at the National Institute of Sports, Poovamma has opted to go back to her home state, Karnataka, for treatment.
The seasoned athlete has been a consistent 400m runner since the beginning of the season. She finished second with a time of 53.54 seconds at the National Inter-State Athletics Championships held last month in Patiala.
AFI president Adille Sumariwalla wasn’t available for a comment. The mixed team had qualified for the Olympics during the 2019 Doha World Championships by virtue of being the finalist.
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The men’s 4x400m relay team has qualified for the Olympics while the women’s 4x400m relay team failed to make the cut before the June 29 deadline, set by World Athletics to achieve qualification norms.
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