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Milkha Singh was born in 1929 in Gobindpura village in the Muzaffargarh district of Pakistan. He spent most of his childhood in poverty. Singh lost his 14 siblings to poverty, poor health and lack of medical attention. During the 1947 partition, he became an orphan and moved to India. He earned his living by working in a roadside restaurant before joining the army in 1951. During his military training, he realised his sprinting abilities. Hawaldar Gurudev Singh persuaded him to run a cross-country race as a part of military training. He practiced hard and came to the limelight during the National Games at Patiala in 1956. He broke the 200m and 400m records in the National Games at Cuttack in 1958. From running three miles ranging from running the first mile slowly and then increasing pace each mile before his training in the off season schedule, Singh would run three 400m races followed by one slow-paced 200m race followed by three 400m races fast followed by another 200m race slowly in the morning. During the season schedule, 10 sprints of 150m on Mondays, six 200m sprints on Tuesdays, four 300m sprints on Wednesdays, two 500m sprints once on Saturdays followed by complete rest on Sunday.
He is the only athlete to win a gold medal in the 400 meters race at the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games. Milkha Singh set a National Record in the 1960 Olympics by winning fourth place in the 400m race in 45.73 seconds. This record remained for almost 40 years. In his sports career, Padma Shree Milkha Singh achieved many medals, including the gold medal in 200 meters in the 1958 Asian Games, 400 meters in the 1958 Asian Games, 440 yards in the 1958 Asian Games, 400 meters in the 1962 Asian Games, the 4x400-meter relay in the 1962 Asian Games, and silver in 400 meters in the 1964 Calcutta National Games. Apart from these achievements, in 1960, he was persuaded by then Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to run against Abdul Khaliq in Pakistan, whom he defeated. He then re- ceived the title of ”The Flying Sikh” by General Ayub.