Asian Games relay gold medallist Poovamma suspended for three months

Poovamma was a member of the gold-winning 4x400m women’s and mixed relay teams in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and also part of the squad that won the women’s relay gold at the 2014 Incheon Asiad where she also took the bronze in the individual 400m.

India's M.R. Poovamma during the 12th South Asian Games in Guwahati on February 10, 2016.

The National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA) has suspended multiple Asian Games relay gold medallist M.R. Poovamma for failing a dope test at the Indian Grand Prix in Patiala in February 2021.

Poovamma was a member of the gold-winning 4x400m women’s and mixed relay teams in the 2018 Jakarta Asian Games and also part of the squad that won the women’s relay gold at the 2014 Incheon Asiad where she also took the bronze in the individual 400m.

The 32-year-old quartermiler tested positive for a stimulant methylhexaneamine at the Indian GP on February 18 last year and has been banned for three months.

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Adille Sumariwalla, the president of the Athletics Federation of India, confirmed the development and said that the suspension order came about a week ago.

The first sign that Poovamma was in some sort of trouble came a few weeks before the Tokyo Olympics when she skipped the relay trials in Patiala and left the national camp suddenly in July last year.

She had clocked a season best time of 52.44s in the Indian Grand Prix in Thiruvananthapuram in March this year and had also run in the Federation Cup in Malappuram in April.