Chandigarh, June 19:
Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday condoled the sad demise of legendary athlete Milkha Singh, who passed away here last midnight in PGIMER after a valiant battle against COVID-19. Milkha Singh (91) is survived by a son and three daughters. His son Jeev Milkha Singh is also a renowned Golfer.
In his condolence message, the Chief Minister said, “I am saddened to learn about the death of all time greatest athlete of the country who brought several gold medals in both the Asian and Commonwealth Games thus making every Punjabi proud.”
Notably, India’s first Olympics Finalist and Commonwealth Games Gold medalist athlete Milkha Singh was also known as “The Flying Sikh”. He was sports icon of more than 100 crore people of the country. He stood 4th in 400 Metre event at Rome Olympics,1960 and won Gold medal in 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games besides double Gold medals in 1958 Tokyo Asian Games and 1962 Jakarta Asian Games. He represented India in three Olympic Games (1956 Melbourne, 1960 Rome and 1964 Tokyo).
Milkha Singh was awarded Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his sporting achievements.
Sharing his heartfelt condolences with the bereaved family, relatives and friends, the Chief Minister prayed to the Almighty to give courage to bear the huge loss in this hour of grief and grant eternal peace to the departed soul.
