Khelo India University Games: Former U20 South Asian champion Poonam clinches maiden gold

Poonam Dinkar Sonune, representing Mangalore University clinched the gold medal in the 5000 meters event at the Khelo India University Games 2022 in Uttar Pradesh.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: Poonam finished with 16:59.31 minutes on the clock. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

Lucknow

Poonam Dinkar Sonune, an experienced middle-distance runner from Maharashtra, representing Mangalore University clinched the gold medal in the 5000 meters event at the Khelo India University Games 2022 in Uttar Pradesh.

Poonam won her first gold in her third attempt at Khelo India University games, with 16:59.31 minutes on the clock. She previously clinched the South Asian U20 championship in the 3000 meters event.

Earlier, Poonam participated in the TCS World 10K race in Bengaluru, where she secured the 16th position overall and the second position among Indian elite women runners. She then traveled to Lucknow and won the first place in the race that took place at the Guru Gobind Singh Sports College Campus with a time of 16:59.31 minutes. The current national record for this competition is held by Parul Chaudhary with a timing of 15:10.35.

Poonam, 23, earlier participated in the Khelo India University Games in Bengaluru and secured the third position in the 5000 meters event.

Poonam has experience participating in both international and national events. In 2018, she competed in the Gifu Asian Junior Championship in Japan, where she secured the fourth position in the 3000 meters event with the timing of 9:37.17.

Poonam expressed her fondness for participating in the Khelo India Games and stated that the organizing committee of the event in Bakaul was excellent. However, she felt that if her event had been scheduled a bit earlier, she could have broken the National record. She presently aims to participate in the World University Games and will be attending trials for the same at Bhubaneswar.

One of Poonam’s biggest achievements in her career so far was winning the South Asian U20 Championship held in Colombo in 2018. She secured the first position in the 3000 meters event with a time of 9:50.21. She also participated in the Indian U20 Championship held in Coimbatore in the same year, where she won the gold in the 3000 meters event with a time of 9:50.61.

Poonam said, “In the Indian U20 Championship held in Trivandrum in 2019, I secured the first position in the 3000 meters race with a timing of 9:52.32 minutes. After that, in 2020, I participated in the Indian University Championship (Moodbidri), where I won first place in the 10,000 meters race with a time of 36:00.32 minutes.”

“My mindset was different when I chose sports. I wanted to win medals at the state level and bring a sense of accomplishment to my family. But now, times have changed, and my present aim is to win medals for our nation at the international level. This is the reason why I stay away from home for many months, even though my home is just five hours away from Nashik.” concluded Poonam.