It could be a contest of Titans. Two of the top female discus throwers in the world facing off for the biggest prize in the sport, A$20,000 (HK$155,350)in a winner-takes-all event; Australian world champion Dani Samuels against India's Krishna Poonia, gold medallist at the recent Commonwealth Games, in a grudge match proposed to be held at Sydney's Olympic Park Athletics Centre.
'It could be enormous,' Hayden Knowles, Samuels' manager, said. 'It could be like a boxing match.'
The talk in sporting circles in India is that Samuels, Knowles and an Australian group issued the challenge to clear the air after Poonia insulted the Australian champ, who announced she wouldn't attend the Games in Delhi, saying she feared a terrorist attack and was worried about unsanitary conditions.
Poonia, however, suggested Samuels was having a bad season and 'maybe this is the reason why she has chosen to stay away from Delhi'.
Last week Australian media reported that January 22 would be the day of the contest, as part of the Pirtek Athletic All-Stars Meet, at the Sydney athletics stadium.
The contest will carry 'the biggest cash prize for a discus event in the world', Hayden told The Sydney Morning Herald. 'The prestigious Diamond League offers A$10,000 prize money, well we've doubled that to give Poonia her shot at the champ.'