Athletics Federation of India (AFI) announced India’s full squad for the World Athletics Championships on Sunday, scheduled from September 13 to 21, 2025, in Tokyo, Japan.
The squad features a special name, Pooja Olla, a middle-distance runner from Haryana who qualified for both the 800m and 1500m events. She made the cut in the 800m through ranking points, while in the 1500m she received an invitation as she was next in line on the Road to Tokyo rankings. With that, Pooja became the first Indian female athlete ever to qualify for both the 800m and 1500m races.
The 23-year-old comes from Fatehabad district in Haryana. Interestingly, Pooja’s first love was not athletics but hockey, which she started playing at the age of 14. Soon after, at 15, she gained admission to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre in Badal, Punjab, after proving her mettle in the hockey trials.
At the SAI centre, when she was running on the track in the evening, an athletics coach, Preetipal Kaur, noticed something special in her running style and encouraged her to switch to athletics. Pooja took up the sport and very soon results started coming. In 2019, at the U18 Asian Championships, she won a silver medal.
After stepping up to the senior level, she faced stiff competition at the national stage from the likes of Harmilan Bains, KM Chanda, and Lily Das, and did not enjoy much success initially.
Pooja’s breakthrough season came in 2025. After an impressive run at the Federation Cup, she qualified for the Asian Championships in South Korea. Competing abroad for the first time in a senior meet, she clinched two medals, a bronze in the 800m with a lifetime best of 2:01.89 and a silver in the 1500m, clocking 4:10.83.
A week later, she participated in the Taiwan Open, where she blazed through the track to win gold in both the 800m and 1500m. At the National Senior Inter-State Athletics Championships, her strong performances earned her two more gold medals. These crucial wins helped her secure qualification for the World Championships for the first time.
“I’ll try to achieve my personal best at the World Athletics Championships,” Pooja told RevSportz. “Running alongside the world’s best athletes is like a blessing to me. I’ll try to learn as much as possible from them,” she added.
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