Indian sprint legend Milkha Singh (91) died on Friday night with COVID-19 related issues. He was in critical condition after contracting coronavirus last month.
The legendary athlete died five days after his wife Nirmal Kaur, a former national volleyball captain, succumbed to the same disease.
Milkha Singh was admitted to a hospital in Mohali last month after being diagnosed with COVID-19, and following treatment, he recovered from the virus and was resting at home.
However, due to post-COVID complications, he was again admitted to the ICU of a COVID-19 hospital in Chandigarh on June 3. He recovered on June 13, but his condition deteriorated last evening as he developed complications such as fever and low oxygen saturation levels.
Milkha Singh, also known as The Flying Sikh, is the only Indian athlete to have won gold in the 400 meters at both the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games.
He represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, the 1960 Rome Olympics and the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Milkha, who narrowly missed out on the bronze medal by 0.1 second, set a new Olympic record by finishing fourth in Rome.
The four-time Asian Games gold medallist and 1958 Commonwealth Games champion was bestowed the Padma Shri in 1959.
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