Machettira Raju Poovamma (born 5 June 1990) is an Indian sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres distance. As a member of the Indian 4 × 400 m relay teams she participated in the 2016 Olympics and won gold medals at the 2014 and 2018 Asian Games and 2013 and 2017 Asian championships; individually she won a silver medal in 2013 and a bronze in 2014 at those competitions. She received the Arjuna Award in 2015 for her contributions to athletics. She was banned for a period of two years following a failed doping test in February 2021.

Early life

Poovamma was born to M. G. Raju and Jaji. She completed her primary and higher education in

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ke ...

and acquired her bachelor's degree in business management from the Sri Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwara College of Business Management, Karnataka. Her brother MR Manju also competed in the 400 m events at the national level.

Career highlights

Poovamma won a silver medal in the 400 m and a gold in the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games. She then won a senior national 400 m title in September 2011 in Kolkata. At the 2012 Asian Grands Prix Poovamma won two gold and a silver medal. She also won a gold medal at the 2013 Asian Grand Prix in Bangkok. Poovamma represented India in the Moscow

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

2013 where she was also a part of the women's 4 × 400 m relay team. She won the gold medal in women's 4×400 metres relay at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea along with

Tintu Luka Tintu Luka (born 26 April 1989) is an Indian track and field athlete, who predominantly competes in the middle-distance running events. Born in Valathode, Kerala, she is the national record holder in the women's 800 metres. Luka represented In ...

, Mandeep Kaur and Priyanka Pawar. The team clocked 3:28:68 to break the Games Record. This is India's 4th consecutive gold in the event since 2002. In 2017 she was part of the winning 4 × 400 m team at the

2017 Asian Athletics Championships The 2017 Asian Athletics Championships was the 22nd edition of the Asian Athletics Championships. It was held from 6 to 9 July 2017 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, India. Bhubaneswar was the third Indian city to host Asian Championships. ...

in Bhubaneshwar, which also included Debashree Mazumdar,

Jisna Mathew Jisna Mathew (born 7 January 1999) is an Indian sprinter from Kerala. Career She represented India at the 2016 Summer Olympics held at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She also won silver medals for 400m in 2015 Commonwealth Youth Games and 2015 Asian ...

and

Nirmala Sheoran Nirmala Sheoran (born 15 July 1995) is an Indian sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres event. Early life and career Sheoran was born in Chehad Khurd village of Haryana state's Bhiwani district. She qualified for two events at the 2016 S ...

. The team had a problematic baton exchange, but Nirmala recovered the time in the final leg.

Competition record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Poovamma, M. R. 1990 births Living people Sportswomen from Karnataka People from Kodagu district Indian female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for India Indian female middle-distance runners 21st-century Indian women 21st-century Indian people Asian Games gold medalists for India Asian Games bronze medalists for India Olympic athletes of India Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2014 South Asian Games gold medalists for India South Asian Games medalists in athletics Recipients of the Arjuna Award Commonwealth Games competitors for India Olympic female sprinters