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Milkha Singh stable, on low-flow oxygen in Mohali hospital
A day after legendary athlete Milkha Singh was admitted to Fortis Hospital, Mohali, it is learnt that his condition is stable and he is on low-flow oxygen
A day after legendary athlete Milkha Singh was admitted to Fortis Hospital, Mohali, it is learnt that his condition is stable and he is on low-flow oxygen.
Milkha, 91, complained of discomfort on Monday morning after which he was admitted to the intensive care unit of the hospital with Covid pneumonia. Earlier, he was recovering in isolation at his house in Sector 8, Chandigarh.
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His son and golfer Jeev Milkha said that the move to hospital was precautionary. “He’s weak and not eating well since Sunday, so we had to hospitalise him. We thought it’s safer to have him admitted where he would be under supervision of senior doctors and recover well,” he said.
The Olympian is said to have contracted the virus from a staff member at his residence. Other family members tested negative, while Milkha’s RT-PCR test came out positive. Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, provided a home attendant and oxygen facility.
Milkha Singh is the only Indian athlete to have won an individual Commonwealth Games gold on the track, after claiming the 440 yards race at Cardiff in 1958. He has also won four Asian Games titles, including the 200-400 double in 1958 and the 400m in 1962. His greatest performance was finishing fourth in the 400m final at the 1960 Rome Olympics, missing out on the bronze by 1/10th of a second.
Known as the Flying Sikh, he’s the first Indian athlete to get the Padam Shri in 1959.
