Milkha Singh biography

 Milkha Singh biography

 Milkha Singh, byname the Flying Sikh, (born October 17, 1935, Lyallpur [now Faisalabad], Pakistan), Indian track-and-field athlete who turned the primary Indian male to achieve the ultimate of an Olympic athletics occasion when he positioned fourth within the 400-metre race on the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

Orphaned throughout the partition of India, Singh moved to India from Pakistan in 1947. He eked out a dwelling by working in a roadside restaurant earlier than becoming a member of the Indian military. It was within the military that Singh realized his talents as a sprinter. After profitable the nationwide trials within the 200-metre and 400-metre sprints, he was eradicated throughout the preliminary heats for these occasions on the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

At the 1958 Asian Games, Singh gained each the 200-metre and 400-metre races. Later that 12 months he captured the 400-metre gold on the Commonwealth Games, which was India’s first athletics gold within the historical past of the Games. He narrowly misplaced the bronze medal within the 400 metres on the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome, lacking out on third place in a photograph end. Singh retained his 400-metre gold on the 1962 Asian Games and likewise took one other gold as a part of India’s 4 × 400-metre relay group. He made a closing Olympic look on the 1964 Tokyo Games as a part of the nationwide 4 × 400 group that didn't advance previous preliminary heats.

Singh was awarded the Padma Shri (one among India’s highest civilian honours) in 1959. After his retirement he served because the director of sports activities in Punjab. Singh’s autobiography, The Race of My Life (cowritten along with his daughter Sonia Sanwalka), was revealed in 2013.