In this June 20, 1961 file photo, Milkha Singh, the famed Indian middle-distance runner, starts the 400 meters race in the Janusz Kusocinski Memorial Track and Field Meeting, in Warsaw, Poland. (PHOTO / AP)

NEW DELHI - Indian sporting icon Milkha Singh, a runner who was fondly called the "Flying Sikh", died late on Friday night of COVID-19 at the age of 91.

Singh breathed his last in the country's northern city of Chandigarh.

Milkha Singh was a four-time Asian Games Gold medalist and 1958 Commonwealth Games champion. He finished fourth in the 400m final at the 1960 Rome Olympics

He had tested positive for COVID-19 last month, and his wife Nirmal Kaur had passed away five days ago due to the pandemic.

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Singh was a four-time Asian Games Gold medalist and 1958 Commonwealth Games champion.

He also represented India in the 1956 and 1964 Olympics, and was bestowed with the "Padma Shri" civilian award in 1959.

Singh was the first Indian track and field athlete to win gold in the then-British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958. His most memorable moment was at the 1960 Rome Olympics, where he finished fourth in the 400m final in a photo-finish. 

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