The Commonwealth Games champion aggravated her knee injury while travelling from Delhi to Guangzhou
Indian athletes are not used to business class travel. They dare not even ask for such a privilege. After all, they don’t come under the celebrity class.
But the Indian Olympic Association would have done well to fly down their ace athlete Krishna Poonia via business class for the Asian Games competition in Guangzhou as a special case.
It’s not because of the comfort factor but it was a necessity to prevent the aggravation of the knee-injury India’s gold medal hope is carrying. As things stand, making the long journey from Patiala to Delhi and then Delhi to Guangzhou in economy class might affect the performance of the Commonwealth Games discuss throw gold medallist at the Asiad.
She had picked up the knee injury during the CWG and it got aggravated during the long flight here. “God has given me good height, in this situation it was not an advantage. Because of my long legs my knees were touching the front seat. I couldn’t stretch my legs during the flight. Bahut problem ho gaya (I faced a lot of problem because of that). The swelling and the pain in my left knee returned during the flight,” Poonia told DNA on Wednesday.
The problem is that the injury is on the left leg on which the discuss thrower shifts all her weight during the heave. Poonia had picked up the injury during the CWG where she won the gold with a throw of 61.51 metres.
“I took whatever ticket they gave me. We always travel by economy class. Yes, may be it would have been good if I travelled business class because it has more leg space,” said Poonia, who reached here on Monday. “I got injured during my second throw of the discuss final at the CWG. I did not take any more throws. But, in the joy of winning the medal I didn’t rest, as at that time you don’t feel anything. We were jumping around in celebration and did a victory lap and I think it got aggravated.”
Till 10 days ago, she was not sure about her participation at the Asiad. “I took the decision 10 days before coming here. I have been doing a lot of strengthening, icing and ultrasound. It has been one hour of work, both morning and evening, only on strengthening the muscles around the knee. I started feeling good in my throws and hence I decided to compete here.”
It is a testing time for her but the towering Indian athlete is seeking inspiration from her recovery from such painful injuries in the past. “The pain barrier is nothing new to me. I started competing in 1999 and had a terrible time when I picked up a back injury in 2000. It kept me out of the game for three years. During that period, I gave birth to my son Lakshya also. I made a successful comeback despite everything. With proper strengthening and recovery you can perform at the highest level,” said Poonia.
“If I can do well with a back injury then a knee injury will not affect my performance,” she said confidently.
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