Milkha Singh Net Worth 2021: Wife | Son | Career |Bio

Who is Milkha Singh?

He is known as the flying Sikh who was an Indian track and short distance runner while serving in the Indian Army. He is the only athlete who wins gold at 400 metres at the Asian Games along with the Commonwealth games. He has also won gold in the 1958 & 1962 Asian games. He participated in the 1956 Summer Olympics which was organised in Melbourne Australia. After that, he represented India at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo Japan.

For his achievement in the Olympic games, the Indian government has awarded him Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian honour of India. He is the sporting legend of the country India. 

Early life

He was born on 20th November 1929 in a Sikh family in Govindpura, a Village ten kilometres from Muzaffargarh city in Punjab in British India. Now it is Muzaffargarh district in Pakistan. 

Career

One of his brothers insisted he attempt recruitment to the Indian Army. In his fourth attempt in 1951, he successfully gets entrance at the Electrical Mechanical Engineering Centre in Secunderabad, Hyderabad in India. During that time he introduced to athletics.

He represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games in 200m  & 400m competitions. In 1958 he makes a record of  200m and 400m in the National Games of India which was organised in the Cuttack Indian state of Orissa. In the same event, he won a  gold medal. After that at the 1958 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, he completed his running within 46.6 seconds in the 400m & again won the Gold medal.

At the 1962 Asian games which were organised in Jakarta, Indonesia he repeated his same success and on the gold in 400 metres along with  4 × 400 metres relay. After that, he attended the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo Japan. In the same event, he entered to compete in 40metresre, 4 × 100 metres relay &  4 × 400 metres relay. He decided not to compete in the 400m and  4 x 100m relay. The Indian team of Milkha Singh, Indian track and field athlete Makhan Singh, Amrit Pal and Indian short length runner Ajmer Singh were eliminated when they finished the fourth stage. 

In the 1960 Olympics, 400 metre final creates a national record and it remains unbroken till 1998 when Indian athlete Paramjit Singh break it on an all-weather running track with fully automatic timing which was recorded 45.70 seconds.

He was promoted to Junior commissioned officer to celebrate his success at the 1958 Asian games. After that, he becomes the Director of sports in the Punjab Ministry of Education. He retired from that same responsibility in 1998.

His all medals donated to the Nations & were displayed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi and later on shifted to the sports museum in Patiala, Punjab. A pair of running shoes that he used at the Rome was also displayed there.

Personal Life

In 1955 he met the former captain of the Indian women’s volleyball team Nirmal Kaur Saini in Sri Lanka formerly known as Ceylon. They married in 1962. The couple has three daughters & a son Jeev Milkha Singh who is an Indian professional golfer.

He along with his daughter Sonia Sanwalka co-wrote his autobiography, titled The Race of My Life which was published in 2013. The Hindi language biographical sports drama movie “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” has inspired by that biography. The movie was released in 2013. Indian actor Farhan Akhtar perform his character in the movie. The lead actress of the movie was actress Divya Dutta & Sonam Kapoor. The movie has won National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

He was admitted to ICU  at Fortis Hospital in Mohali on 24th May 2021 for Pneumonia caused by Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). He was gradually recovering his health but suddenly he died on 18th June 2021 at 11.30 pm Indian Time in Chandigarh, Punjab. Few days before his wife also died due to the COVID-19 complications on 13th June 2021.

Social Media Portfolio

He has 205 followers on Twitter & 2704 followers on Instagram as of June 2021.