Milkha Singh
Description
Milkha Singh, known as the flying Sikh, is generally accepted as the finest athlete India has ever
produced. He was born in Pakistan and as per the record available there, his date of birth is 20 November
1929. He was orphaned during the partition, when his parents, a brother and two sisters were killed in the
violence that ensued. After shifting to Delhi, he had to spend some time at refugee camp in Purana Quila
and then resettlement colony in Shahdara. After spending a tough childhood he joined army in 1951 and
it was here that his childhood interest of running races found recognition. After that he ran a number of
races and won most of them. He was the only Indian athlete to win an individual athletics gold medal at
a Commonwealth Games until Krishna Poonia won the discus gold medal at the 2010 Commonwealth
Games. He also won gold medals in the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. He represented India in the 1956
Summer Olympics in Melbourne, the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics
in Tokyo. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his
sporting achievements. As he is considered a sport icon of India, a feature film ‘Bhag Milkha Bhag’ was
made on his life and achievements. This film was inspired by his autobiography ‘The Race of my life’ (2013)
jointly written by him and his daughter Sonia. He remained a Director of sports in the Punjab Ministry of
Education till 1998. Presently he is living with his family in Chandigarh. His wife Nirmal Kaur was a former
captain of the Indian women’s volleyball team in Ceylon 1955. The couple married in 1962. They have three
daughters and a son, the golfer Jeev Milkha Singh. In 1999, they adopted the seven year old son of Harvildar
Bikram Singh, who had died in the Battle of Tiger Hill. His humanity and humility despite his name and
fame all over the world and his attitude of helping the poor and needy sports persons through his family
charitable trust make all the Indian particularly the Sikhs proud of him.
