Krishna Poonia

Krishna Poonia (born 5 May 1977) is an international gold-medalist Indian discus thrower, track-and-field athlete, 3 times Olympics participant, Padma Shri and Arjuna Award recipient, politician from Congress party and the current MLA from Sadulpur constituency in Rajasthan.[2][3][4] She participated in 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games.[3] In 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games, she won a gold medal.[4] She has the current National Record for the longest discus throw of 64.76 meters.

Krishna Poonia
XIX Commonwealth Games-2010 Delhi Krishna Poonia of India won the Gold medal in Women’s Discus event, at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, in New Delhi on October 11, 2010. his father originally belongs to bidhwan village located in bhiwani . from where his family migrated in late 1970s, to a village in hisar district.
Personal information
Born (1977-05-05) 5 May 1977
Agroha, Haryana, India
Height1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Weight79 kg (174 lb) (2013–present)
Sport
Country India
SportAthletics
Event(s)Discus
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)64.76 m (Wailuku 2012)
Medal record
Asian Games
2006 Doha Discus
2010 Guangzhou Discus
Commonwealth Games
2010 Delhi Discus

Early life

Poonia was born on 5 May 1977 in Jat family of Agroha village of Haryana's Hisar district.[5][6][7] She was raised by her father and paternal grandmother after her mother died when she was 9 years old.[8] Krishna's physical fitness was honed as a result of working at her family land since the age of 15 and not exactly undergoing rigorous sports training.[9]

In 2000, she married Virender Singh Poonia, a former athlete who coached her after their marriage.[8] They had a son in 2001.[2] The couple worked for Indian Railways but in 2013, Poonia resigned and joined the Congress.[10] They live in Jaipur. Poonia obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Kanoria PG Mahila Mahavidyalaya in Jaipur.

Career

Poonia won a bronze medal in 2006 Doha Asian Games. She threw her personal best at 61.53 metres in the second try and finished behind Aimin Sing of China (63.52) and Ma Xuenjun, also of China (62.43).

She had won a gold medal in the 46th Open National athletics championships to nose ahead of favourites Seema Antil and Harwant Kaur while registering a career-best at 60.10 metres distance.

She contested at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but failed to reach the finals, after finishing 10th in the qualifiers with a throw of 58.23.

On 8 May 2012, she made a throw of 64.76 meters in Hawaii, US, which is the new national record. She also clinched the Bronze Medal in the Guangzhou Asian Games, 2010.

2010 Commonwealth games

Poonia is the first Indian woman athlete to win the Gold Medal in 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Poonia led the historic clean sweep of the discus event by clearing 61.5 meters. She is the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in track and field events of Commonwealth games and the first Indian to win a gold medal in such events after Milkha Singh who had won the gold in Men's 440 yards race in the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games.[11]

2012 London Olympics

She completed a creditable sixth in the women's discus throw in the 2012 London Olympics. Poonia's best effort of 63.62 m came in her fifth and penultimate attempt. She had 62.42 m in the first attempt and 61.61 in the third and 61.31 in the sixth and the final throw. She had two no-throws in the second and the fourth attempt.[12] Earlier she became only the sixth Indian to make it to the final round of track and field events in an Olympics after Milkha Singh, P T Usha, Sriram Singh, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa and Anju Bobby George.[13]

Political career

In 2013, she joined the INC party at an election rally in Churu – her husband's home district – in the presence of Rahul Gandhi and then chief minister Ashok Gehlot after she was approached by the Congress's leadership.[3]

In 2013 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election, she contested and lost her first election from the Sadulpur Assembly constituency as Congress candidate where she finished third behind BJP and BSP.[3] In 2018 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election, she contested again and won the same seat on a Congress ticket, by a margin of 18084 votes after receiving 70020 votes.[2]

In 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Poonia was nominated by Congress from the Jaipur Rural constituency. She contested against Olympian Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore of the BJP.[14] She lost to Rathore by a margin of 393171 votes.[15]

Poonia has been helping Rajasthan State Health Ministry in its attempt to curb female foeticide as the selective abortion of female fetuses is a pressing concern in Indian especially in Haryana where Poonia grew up. She is also engaged in improving the infrastructure of sports for children in Jaipur and across the country.[9]

Honors

See also

References
  1. "KRISHNA POONIA". g2014results.thecgf.com. Commonwealth Games Federation. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
  2. Krishna wins poll battle in Rajasthan in second attempt, The Tribune, 13 December 2018.
  3. Electoral Triumph Same As Winning Gold: Congress Candidate Krishna Punia, NDTV, 26 Nov 2018.
  4. "Padma Awards" (PDF). Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India. 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 November 2014. Retrieved 21 July 2015.
  5. "KRISHNA POONIA". iaaf.org. International Association of Athletics Federations. Archived from the original on 30 March 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  6. "Gold Rush..Fast Paced Development" (PDF). Haryana Review. Government of Haryana. 24 (11): 44. November 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 April 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  7. Koshie, Nihal (12 October 2010). "All Jats Night: Discus trio make history". Indian Express. Archived from the original on 21 March 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  8. Knight, Matthew; Yasukawa, Olivia (4 February 2015). "Krishna Poonia: Discus diva champions Indian girl power". CNN. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
  9. Matthew Knight and Olivia Yasukawa. "Krishna Poonia: Star of India, champion of new society". CNN. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  10. "Ace discus thrower Krishna Poonia resigns from Railways, expected to join Congress". NDTV.com. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  11. "Krishna Poonia creates history, wins gold in athletics". The Indian Express. 11 October 2010. Archived from the original on 21 June 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2020.
  12. "Krishna Poonia Finishes 7th". The Hindu.
  13. "Krishna Poonia Qualifies for Discus Final". The Hindu.
  14. "Election 2019: "Khiladi vs Khiladi": Olympian Krishna Poonia On Rajyavardhan Rathore". NDTV.com. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  15. "Krishna Poonia: Jaipur Rural News & Election Rally by Krishna Poonia in Lok Sabha Elections". News18. Retrieved 27 July 2019.
  16. "Arjuna Awardees- Athletics – Athletics Federation of India". Retrieved 27 July 2019.
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