We all know that Milkha Singh is known as “The Flying Sikh”, but do you know who gave this prestigious title to him? Against whom he competed and won this title? How many records has he made in his career? We’ll let you know about all this further in this article.
Biography
Milkha Singh was an Indian track and field sprinter. He was introduced to the sport while he was serving the Indian Army. He was second youngest amongst the 15 siblings of which eight died before the partition of India. He entered the Indian Army in the 4th attempt in 1951. He was stationed at the Electrical Mechanical Engineering Centre in Secunderabad where he was introduced to athletics.
| Born | 20 November, 1929 |
| Location | Gobindpura in Muzaffargarh district (now in Pakistan) |
| Occupation | Athlete |
| Died | 18 June, 2021 (aged 91) |
| Place of death | Chandigarh, India |
| Spouse | Nirmal Saini (died 13 June, 2021) |
| Awards | Padma Shri |
Achievements
§ Represented India in three Olympics from 1956-1964.
§ 1958 Asian Games (200m, 400m) – Gold
§ 1958 Commonwealth Games (440 m) – Gold
§ 1962 Asian Games (400m) – Gold
§ 1962 Asian Games ( 4*400m relay) – Gold
§ 1964 Calcutta National Games (400m) – Silver
In 1962, he competed with Abdul Khaliq, an exceptional sprinter of Pakistan. Milkha Singh set a new world record of covering 200m in 20.7 sec thereby defeating the Pakistani athlete. Ayub Khan, the former Prime Minister of Pakistan that day honored him with the title of ‘The Flying Sikh’.
During the 1960 Olympic Games, he finished fourth-place in the 400 metres final. He finished to fourth-place in 45.73 seconds which was an Indian national record for almost 40 years.
Awards and Honors
§ He was honored with India’s fourth-highest civilian honor Padma Shri in 1959.
§ Lifetime achievement award at the second edition of the Indian Sports Honors.
§ Singh’s wax statue created by sculptors of Madame Tussauds in London was unveiled at Chandigarh in September 2017. It depicts Singh in running posture during his victorious run at the 1958 Commonwealth Games. The statue is placed at Madame Tussauds museum in New Delhi, India.
Autobiography
His autobiography titled ‘The Race of My Life’ was published in 2013. It was co-written by Singh’s daughter Sonia Sanwalka. A film inspired by his book titled ‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ was released in 2013. Singh’s role was played by actor Farhan Akhtar and was directed by Rakesh Omprakash Mehra.
The film was highly praised across India. It won several awards such as Most Popular Film at the National Film Awards. It also won 5 awards at the International Indian Film Academy Awards in 2014.
He died on 18 June, 2021 due to post covid implications in Chandigarh. Milkha Singh brought laurels to India and the army by establishing himself as one of the world’s finest and a revered athlete in the Asian continent.
With this we come to the end of this article.
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