'Don't see anyone winning athletics medal in Olympics in near future': Milkha Singh

The legendary Milkha Singh on Friday said he does not see any Indian winning a medal in athletics in the Olympics in the near future.

“Abhi tak toh mujhe koi aadmi aisa nazar nahi aata jo aaney walein Olympics Games ke andar athletics mein medal jeet paye (Till now, I don’t see anyone who can win a medal in athletics in Olympics),” the 92-year-old Milkha, popularly known as ‘Flying Sikh’ told reporters here.

He was speaking on the sidelines of the Indian Sports Honours 2019, which are being instituted by Virat Kohli and RP-SG. Milkha informed that he would be bestowed with an award during the function.

“Kid, you have spoken about Olympics, but I will speak to you more about athletics … I, Gurbachan (Singh) Randhawa, P T Usha, Anju Bobby Geroge and Sriram Singh reached the final (in the Olympics) but could not get a medal,” rued Milkha.

Milkha is most remembered for finishing fourth in the 400m final in the 1960 Rome Olympic Games, while Randhawa finished fifth in 110m hurdles in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. P T Usha came fourth in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics while Anju Bobby George was fifth in the 2004 Athens Games.

“If we have to win a medal in the Olympics, we will have to keep the athletes at one place and train them. Then (only) we can win a gold medal in the Olympics,” suggested Milkha.

Meanwhile, gymnast Dipa Karmakar said that her “fitness was good” amid her injury concerns.

Current and former India cricketers Ajinkya Rahane, Smriti Mandhana, Zaheer Khan and Yuvraj Singh, chief badminton national coach P Gopichand were among a host of athletes and other celebrities who attended the award function.