M. R. Poovamma

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.

Early life

Poovamma was born to M. G. Raju and Jaji. She completed her primary and higher education in Mangalore 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 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, 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 in Bhubaneshwar, which also included Debashree Mazumdar, Jisna Mathew and Nirmala Sheoran. The team had a problematic baton exchange, but Nirmala recovered the time in the final leg.

Competition record

References

External links

• Poovamma Raju Machettira at World Athletics
• Poovamma Raju Machettira at the Jakarta-Palembang 2018 Asian Games (archived)
• Poovamma Raju Machettira at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (archived)
• Poovamma Raju Machettira at Olympics.com
• M. R. Povamma at Olympedia

1. Hima Das
2. Athletics in India
3. Nirmala Sheoran
4. Kodava people
5. Sarita Gayakwad
6. List of Asian Games medalists in athletics
7. India at the 2016 Summer Olympics
8. 2024 World Athletics Relays – Women's 4 × 400 metres relay
9. Rajyotsava Prashasti
10. Priyanka Pawar
11. List of Indian records in athletics
12. India at the Asian Games
13. Anilda Thomas
14. List of National Sports Award recipients in athletics
15. India at the 2018 Asian Games
16. 2018 Asian Games medal table
17. Indoor athletics at the 2007 Asian Indoor Games
18. India at the 2014 Asian Games
19. Athletics at the 2018 Asian Games
20. Jisna Mathew