Krishna Poonia now aims for Olympics gold

NEW DELHI - Dedicating her Commonwealth Games gold to all Indians, discus thrower Krishna Poonia Monday said she now hoped for a similar showing at the 2012 London Olympics.

On a high after her achievement in the event, which also saw the Indians sweep all the medals in the event before a roaring crowd of 35,000 at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Krishna said: It’s fantastic. What could be better than this? It’s an amazing feeling.”

While Krishna won the gold with a throw of 61.51 metres, her compatriots Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil bagged the silver and bronze respectively by hurling the metal to 60.16m and 58.46m.

In an indirect reference to the negative publicity last month over lack of cleanliness and unhygienic conditions in the Games Village, the 28-year-old girl from Gagarwas village in Churu district of Rajasthan said: I dedicate this medal to all the Indians. With this I think we wiped out everything bad that was happening before the Games and came out united.”

Krishna, who has been training in the US for the last two years, thanked her husband Virendra for providing her strong mental support whenever she was emotionally down.

I hardly got to see my nine-year-old son who stays with my in-laws. In fact, since my son was one-and-half year gold, I have been staying away from him as I was busy with training and competitions,” she said.

So at times I used to become too emotional. Then he would comfort me. He also supported me in every possible way,” said Krishna, who won the bronze in the 2006 Doha Asian Games. “I had a back injury but he supported me and never pressurised me.”

Asked about her future plans, the national discus champion said: “I will now prepare for the Asian Games next month (at Guangzhou). And now we can hope for the gold in the 2012 Olympics.”