International Career
He represented India in the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, where his inexperience showed. Thereafter, he won gold medals in both the 200m and 400m events at the 1958 Asian Games, clocking 21.6 seconds and 47 seconds respectively. He progressed to win a gold medal in the 400m competition at the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games, with a time of 46.16 seconds. This latter achievement made him the first gold medallist at the Commonwealth Games from independent India.
Subsequently, he competed in Pakistan and his successes there earned him the nickname of The Flying Sikh. At the 1960 Olympics in Rome, he finished second in all of his 400m races prior to the final, improving his time on each occasion. In the final event he set off strongly to the fore but was overhauled by the field and finished in fourth place, this being a decision that required a photo-finish. His time was 45.6 seconds and his finishing position was not bettered by an Indian track athlete until the 1984 Olympics, when P.T. Usha missed out on the 400 m hurdles bronze medal by 1/100th of a second.
Read more about this topic: Milkha Singh
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