Poonia was born on 5 May 1977 in Agroha village of Haryana'sHisar district. She was raised by her father and paternal grandmother after her mother died when she was 9 years old. Krishna's physical fitness was honed as a result of working at her family land since the age of 15 and not exactly undergoing rigorous sports training. In 2000, she married Virender Singh Poonia, a former athlete who coached her after their marriage. They had a son in 2001. The couple worked for Indian Railways but in 2013, Poonia resigned and joined the Congress. They live in Jaipur. Poonia obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in sociology from Kanoria PG Mahila Mahavidyalaya in Jaipur.
Career
Poonia won a bronze medal in 2006 Doha Asian Games. She threw her personal best at 61.53 metres in the second try and finished behind Aimin Sing of China and Ma Xuenjun, also of China. She had won a gold medal in the 46th Open National athletics championships to nose ahead of favourites Seema Antil and Harwant Kaur while registering a career-best at 60.10 metres distance. She contested at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but failed to reach the finals, after finishing 10th in the qualifiers with a throw of 58.23. On 8 May 2012, she made a throw of 64.76 meters in Hawaii, US, which is the new national record. She also clinched the Bronze Medal in the Guangzhou Asian Games, 2010.
Poonia is the first Indian woman athlete to win the Gold Medal in 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi. Poonia led the historic clean sweep of the discus event by clearing 61.5 meters. She is the first Indian woman to win a gold medal in track and field events of Commonwealth games and the first Indian to win a gold medal in such events after Milkha Singh who had won the gold in Men's 440 yards race in the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games.
She completed a creditable sixth in the women's discus throw in the 2012 London Olympics. Poonia's best effort of 63.62 m came in her fifth and penultimate attempt. She had 62.42 m in the first attempt and 61.61 in the third and 61.31 in the sixth and the final throw. She had two no-throws in the second and the fourth attempt. Earlier she became only the sixth Indian to make it to the final round of track and field events in an Olympics after Milkha Singh, P T Usha, Sriram Singh, Gurbachan Singh Randhawa and Anju Bobby George.
Political career
In 2013, she joined the INC party at an election rally in Churu – her husband's home district – in the presence of Rahul Gandhi and then chief minister Ashok Gehlot after she was approached by the Congress's leadership. In 2013 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election, she contested and lost her first election from the Sadulpur Assembly constituency as Congress candidate where she finished third behind BJP and BSP. In 2018 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election, she contested again and won the same seat on a Congress ticket, by a margin of 18084 votes after receiving 70020 votes. In 2019 Lok Sabha Elections, Poonia was nominated by Congress from the Jaipur Rural constituency. She contested against Olympian Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore of the BJP. She lost to Rathore by a margin of 393171 votes. Poonia has been helping Rajasthan State Health Ministry in its attempt to curb female foeticide as the selective abortion of female fetuses is a pressing concern in Indian especially in Haryana where Poonia grew up. She is also engaged in improving the infrastructure of sports for children in Jaipur and across the country.
