CWG: Poovamma finishes 5th in women s 400m heats

Gold Coast (Australia) April 9 (IANS) India s Poovamma Raju finished fifth in Heat 1 of the women s 400 metre event at the 21 Commonwealth Games here on Sunday.

Poovamma clocked 53.72 seconds to finish 0.175 seconds behind Botswana s Amantle Montsho who registered 51.20 to take the top spot.

Anastasia Le-Roy of Jamaica clocked her season s best time of 51.37 seconds to take the second spot.

The top four runners in each of the four heats earn a direct spot in the semi-finals.

Apart from Montsho and Le-Roy third placed Emily Diamond (52.26) of England and Zambia s Quincy Malekani (52.40) also entered the semi-finals.

Poovamma still has a chance to reach the next stage as the four fastest athletes outside the top four are also allowed into the semi-finals.

However she will now have to wait for the results of the other four heats later in the day.

--IANS
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