Milkha Singh, one of India’s first sport superstars and an ace sprinter who overcame a childhood tragedy to become the country’s most celebrated athlete, has died of COVID aged 91.
Singh, a four-time Asian Games gold medallist and dubbed the “Flying Sikh”, passed away at a hospital in the north Indian city of Chandigarh late on Friday.
His wife Nirmal Kaur, a former volleyball captain, had died of the virus just days earlier. She was 85.
“He fought hard but God has his ways,” Singh’s family said in a statement.