Poovamma 'confident' of Rio qualification

NEW DELHI: MR Poovamma has always taken inspiration from her medal-winning seniors, and now she has to live up to the standards set by them. The 400m sprinter from Kodagu in Karnataka has her sights set firmly on qualifying for the Rio Olympics as she, along with 37 others, heads to the Spala Olympics Training Centre in Poland for a 12-week-long training-and-competition programme.
"Our coach is working on us in such a way that we can systematically peak near to the Olympics. In the next competition, I want to qualify for individual events. I know it's difficult to get the medal in Rio but I have the confidence that I will make the finals. For the next Olympics in Tokyo, we can expect a medal in individual as well as relay events," the 25-yearold said.
Poovamma, who was also part of a training stint in Turkey, said Delhi's pollution affected athletes' timings during the Federation Cup in Delhi recently. "The training camp in Turkey was useful. We were not prepared for the Federation Cup but wanted to see where we stood. I clocked 52.6 (in 400m) and the qualification stands at 52.2. I am confident that I can achieve the qualification mark and even the relay team is looking strong (with timing of 3.29 sec)," she said at a media briefing at the Embassy of the Republic of Poland here on Saturday.
"When we train in India, the oxygen we breathe is not so fresh. In Turkey, the atmosphere was totally different and we would not get tired. Also, an athlete's diet (there) is sorted, unlike in India where the food is all about spices. But here (during Fed Cup) our bodies felt dehydrated after one race and we were unable to breathe properly because of the pollution," the Asian Games medallist said.