Krishna, winner of bronze at the Doha Asian Games, will leave for the US on February 1.

Talking to The Indian Express from Jaipur, she exuded confidence of achieving the qualification mark of 61m (59m is B qualification mark) during her short stint in the US.

“It will be a good opportunity for me to train under the supervision of a personality like Wilkins. I hope under him, I will not only improve my personal mark of 61.53m, but do far better,” she said.

Wilkins is currently the technical coaching consultant to the USA Track & Field’s elite programme for men and women discus throwers. He is also the director of the Oregon Throwers Academy in Portland. The Indian thrower will train with other throwers of the academy.

Training apart, Krishna will also take part in US competitions. The four-month advanced training is expected to commence in the second week of February.

Currently, Krishna is training in Patiala under the supervision of her coach and husband Varinder Poonia. She is among the country’s top three throwers whom the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has considered to be Olympics probables. Seema Antil and Harwant Kaur are the other two. Her husband will also accompany her to the US.

For the US trip, Krishna had managed to raise funds through family and close friends. A grant is also expected from the sports ministry.

Since 2005, Krishna has been a prominent thrower of the country. With a distance of 57.76m, she had claimed bronze in the Asian championships in Incheon.

But the highlight of her career was in 2006 during the Doha Asian Games when she hurled the disc to a distance of 61.53m which fetched her bronze. It was her personal best too.

However, despite being among the top in the country, she didn’t enjoy a good season in 2007. Her best was 58.82m during the domestic meet in Patiala. She failed to perform to expectations in the Osaka World Championships.

On her Osaka competition experience, where she was relegated in the preliminary round, Krishna said, it was one of those bad days when she made efforts but couldn’t raise the level of her performance. “Osaka is past, I was looking ahead to a good year,” she said.