Milkha Singh, one of India’s most successful track athletes who overcame childhood tragedy to seek Olympic glory, has died aged 91 after a long battle with Covid-19.
Tributes to the athlete known as the “Flying Sikh” poured in on social media after the news broke late Friday.
“Dad just passed away,” Singh’s son Jeev Milkha Singh, himself a leading pro golfer, told media.
Milkha Singh had first tested positive for the virus on May 20, the Express reported. His wife Nirmal Kaur also died of the virus earlier this week.
Milkha Singh was born in 1929 in Govindpura, in what is now Pakistan.
Flying Sikh Milkha Singh is one of the most celebrated and successful athletes India has ever produced.
Farhan Akhtar playing Milkha Singh in a 2013 Bollywood biopic portrayed a man who defied all odds against him and became an inspiration for future generations of the country.