Krishna Poonia (Born on 5 May 1982 in Agroha, Haryana) is a national woman discus throw champion of India. Krishna led an Indian clean sweep in the women's discus final on 11th October 2010, winning the Delhi Commonwealth Games gold medal with a throw of 61.51 metres.
Krishna was born in 1982 in Agroha, Hisar district of Haryana in a Jat family and married to Virender Singh Poonia of Gagarwas village in Churu district in Rajasthan in 2000. The couple work for Indian Railways and live in Jaipur. Virender Singh is a former athlete. Krishna studied sociology in Kanodia Girls College in Jaipur.
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). Krishna Poonia had won gold medal in the 46th Open National athletics championships to nose ahead of favourites Seema Antil and Harwant Kaur while registering a career-best 60.10 metres distance.
Krishna Poonia is the first Indian woman to win the Gold Medal in Common Wealth Games 2010 in New Delhi. Poonia led the historic clean sweep of the discus event by clearing 61.5 meters. She is the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in track and field events of Commonwealth games and the first Indian to win a gold medal in such events after Milkha Singh who had won the gold in Men's 440 yards race in the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games.
The Government of Rajasthan has announced cash reward of Rs 10 Lakhs to Krishna though the same government had not approved her application for assistance of Rs 1 lakh for training abroad. She funded expenses on her overseas training out of her pocket. Krishna is a mother of a eight year old son whom she had not seen for six months because of busy training schedules abroad.
List Of Awards
- Arjuna award in 2010, for outstanding achievement in National sports.
- Maharana Pratap award from Government of Rajasthan
- Maharana Mewar award from Mewar Foundation
- Bhavani Singh samman from former royal family of Jaipur
- Bhim award from Government of Haryana
- In 2011, Padma Shri the fourth highest civilian award in the Republic of India.
In 2008 Beijing Olympics, Krishna Poonia contested but failed to reach the finals, after finishing 10th in the qualifiers with a throw of 58.23. On 8 May 2012, she recorded her personal best throw of 64.76 meters in Hawai, USA, which is the new national record.
In 2012 London Olympics, Krishna Poonia finished a creditable seventh in the women’s discus throw with her best effort of 63.62 m. Earlier Krishna Poonia became only the sixth Indian to make it to the final round of track and field events in an Olympics after Milkha Singh, P T Usha, S Sriram, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa and Anju Bobby George.
