Krishna Poonia: India's Golden Girl is now Rajasthan MLA
With Rajasthan Vidhan Sabha election results declared, Krishna Poonia has added a new feather to her cap by winning Sadulpur assembly seat.
Beginning a new innings, discus thrower Krishna Poonia, the 2010 CWG gold medallist, won the Sadulpur assembly seat in Rajasthan on Tuesday. Contesting on a Congress ticket, Poonia won by a healthy margin of 18084 votes after receiving 70020 votes defeating sitting BSP MLA Manoj Nyangali.
The 36-year-old athlete had hurled the disc to 61.51m to claim a gold medal at the Delhi Commonwealth Games. She had finished sixth at the 2012 London Olympics with her best throw of 63.62m, coming in the fifth attempt.
Poonia had earlier lost the election in 2013. But many times in her sporting event, she has bettered her mark with her second attempt.
Krishna Poonia was born on 5 May 1982 in Haryana's Agroha village, which lies in the Hisar district. She is married to Virender Singh Poonia of Gagarwas village in Churu district in Rajasthan. Virender Singh is a former athlete who also became Krishna's coach after their marriage in 2000.
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Krishna won bronze medal in 2006 Doha Asian Games. Krishna Poonia threw the discus to 61.53, her personal best, in the second try and finished behind Aimin Sing of China (63.52) and Ma Xuenjun, also of China (62.43).
(Image: AFP File Photo)
Krishna Poonia became the first Indian woman athlete to win the Gold Medal in Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi. Poonia led the discus event by clearing 61.5 meters. Apart from being the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in track and field events of Commonwealth games, she also became the first Indian to win a gold medal in such events after Milkha Singh in 1958.
(Image: PTI File Photo)
Krishna Poonia finished six in the women's discus throw in the 2012 London Olympics. She became only the sixth Indian to make it to the final round of track and field events in an Olympics after Milkha Singh, PT Usha, Sriram Singh, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa and Anju Bobby George.
(Image: AFP File Photo)