Krishna Poonia attains Olympic ''A'' qualification in Discus

Salinas, CA, May 9 (UNI) Krishna Poonia flanged 1kg discus to her new personal best of 63.74m in the Meet number three of USATF Discus Development Series at Hartnell Junior College ground here.

Her compatriot Vikas Gowda who had set national record of 64.96m at the same place a year ago failed to take maximum advantage of windy condition (right headwind of 5 m/s) and finished 2nd in Group B and 5th overall with 64.83m, 13cm short of his National record.

Gerd Kanter and Stephanie Trafton set World leading mark with 71.88m and 66.17m respectively in this meet. Although no official series are available. Only each competitor's best throw was measured.

Krishna Poonia, a 31-year-old from Jappu, Rajasthan has been training in Concordia University at Portland, Ore., since February with 1976 Olympic Gold medallist US discus thrower Mac Wilkins exuded confidence of improving her performance in coming meets. Results: Men Gerd Kanter (Estonia) 71.88m WL, Mart Israel (Estonia) 65.03m, John Godina (adidas) 64.99m, Benn Harradine (Australia) 64.95m, Vikas Gowda (India) 64.83m, Casey Malone (Nike) 64.56m, Brian Trainor (unattached) 64.32m, Niklas Arrhenius (Sweden) 63.72m Women: Stephanie Trafton (USA) 66.17m WL, Krishna Poonia (India) 63.74 PB, Anna Soderberg (Sweden) 61.58m, Cecelia Barnes (unattached) 59.35m, Kelechi Anyanwu (unattached) 57.24M.

UNI XC HSB RKM KN1926