Athletics
Sri Lanka Athletics: MR Poovamma returns after doping ban, Siva wins silver
Asian Games medalist MR Poovamma returned after doping ban while Siva Subramani won silver medal at Sri Lanka Athletics C'ships
M.R Poovamma (Source: Getty)
Indian pole vaulter Siva Subramani won the silver medal in pole vault while Asian Games medalist quarter-miler MR Poovamma made a return after a doping ban at Sri Lankan National Championships on Friday.
Siva Subramani won silver in the men's pole vault with a performance of 4.90m which is a little underwhelming given his inconsistency in crossing the 5m mark.
Making a return after serving two years ban, Poovamma competed as an unattached athlete and clocked 55.84 seconds to finish second in heat number one. Jisna Mathew and Sonia Baishya won heats two and three respectively, clocking 54.89 and 54.10.
The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has informed the Athletics Federation of India that the two-year ban period imposed on Poovamma, which became operative on February 18, 2021, has ended and she is eligible to compete again.
The 33-year-old Poovamma's dope sample collected on February 18, 2021, had returned positive for stimulant methylhexaneamine, a specified substance under World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Code.
She was handed only three months of suspension earlier but NADA appealed and got her ban extended to two years.
Poovamma was a member of the gold-winning 4x400m women's and mixed relay teams in the 2018 Asian Games and also part of the 4x400m relay squad that won the gold at the 2014 Asian Games.
She also won a bronze in the individual 400m in the 2014 Asian Games. She has a personal best of 51.73 which she had recorded way back in 2014.
Meanwhile, Kishore Jena produced a personal best of 84.38m to win the men's javelin throw competition and become the second-best thrower of 2023 after Olympic Champion Neeraj Chopra.
It was also the 10th best this season worldwide and second in Asia, behind Olympic champion Neeraj Chopra (88.67m). Neeraj took to Twitter to congratulate his compatriot.
Shivpal Singh won the silver with a throw of 77.36m as Indians took the top two spots.
Another Indian, Seema, who had bagged gold in Bhubaneswar, also won the women's 10000m race final with a time of 35 minutes and 39.22 seconds.
Several Indian athletes are taking part in the championships to gather ranking points in their bid to qualify for the World Championships in Budapest from August 19 to 27. The qualification period window ends on Saturday.
