Lesser known facts about the flying Sikh of India Milkha Singh.
India’s great sprinter Milkha Singh passed away late on Friday night. There is a wave of mourning in the whole country due to the news of the death of the Indian Flying Sikh.. He was admitted to the hospital after being found corona infected. His health had improved in the last few days but suddenly he had difficulty in breathing after the oxygen level dropped and the news of the death of this great personality came late in the night.
According to PTI, Milkha Singh breathed his last at 11.30 pm on Friday night. Milkha, 91, was found corona infected on 17 May. This great Indian sprinter is known worldwide as Flying Sikh. Milkha ji had done the feat of winning the first gold medal in the Commonwealth for India. Apart from this, this great sprinter also had four gold medals in the Asian Games. Milkha, who missed India’s bronze medal in the Olympics, is known as India’s greatest and brightest athlete.
Some letter know facts about Milkha Singh:
Independent India’s first individual sports star Milkha Singh with his speed and sense of passion for the sport reigned in the track and field event for over a decade, creating many records and winning many medals in his career. Represented India at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, the 1960 Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Milkha Singh remained India’s greatest Olympian for decades with his stellar performances.
Born on 20 November 1929 in Govindpura (now part of Pakistan) to a Sikh family, Milkha Singh was very fond of sports, fled to India after Partition and joined the Indian Army. He further refined his skills while in the army. Milkha Singh, who came sixth after running with over 400 soldiers in a cross-country race, was selected for further training. Which laid the foundation for an impressive career.
Facts:
1. The time of Indo-Pak partition in 1947 when Milkha Singh lost his parents, his family. Then he was only 12 years old.
2. When he studied in Pakistani Punjab, every day Milkha Singh used to walk 10 kms from his village to school.
3. He wanted to join the Indian Army but failed thrice at his hands. But he never gave up and he succeeded for the fourth time. In 1951, when he joined the EME Center in Secunderabad. That’s when he got to know about his talent. And from there his career as a runner started.
4. His most competitive race was the cross country race. Where Milkha came sixth out of 500 runners.
5. When his fellow soldiers were doing other work after training, Milkha used to run with the train. Many times he used to bleed while practicing, but sometimes he could not even breathe. But still he never gives up his practice, he used to practice continuously day and night. He believed that only by practicing, a person becomes perfect.
6. In 1958 Asian Games, he won gold medal in both 200m and 400m with timings of 21.6 sec and 47 sec respectively.
7. In the 1958 Commonwealth Games, he won the gold medal by completing the 400 meters race in 46.16 seconds. At that time, he was the first Indian to win a gold medal for India in the Commonwealth Games in independent India.
8. 1958 After achieving huge success in the Asian Games, he got the rank of Junior Commission in the Army.