India cricket team to wear black armbands in WTC final as tribute to Milkha Singh
The Indian cricket team pulled on black armbands on Saturday as they played the national anthem before the start of the Cricket World Cup final at the Rose Bowl, Southampton, in memory of “Flying Sikh” Milha Singh, the legendary Indian athlete who passed away on Friday night due to complications related to Covid-19.
Current Indian players in the Test squad including Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant and head coach Ravi Shastri paid tributes to the Olympian on Twitter. Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also posted a message on Twitter that read, “#TeamIndia is wearing black armbands in remembrance of Milkha Singhji, who passed away due to COVID-19”.
The 91-year-old had tested positive for the virus on May 20 and was admitted to a private hospital in Mohali on May 24. Singh had been discharged on May 30 before he was admitted to the Covid ward at the Nehru Hospital Extension at PGIMER on June 3 due to dipping oxygen levels. On Thursday, he had tested negative on Thursday was shifted to the medical ICU.
Singh was the first Indian track and field athlete to win a gold medal in the then British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Cardiff in 1958. He also won four Asian Games gold medals – 200m and 400m in 1958, and 400m and 4x400m relay in 1962. In 1960 Rome Olympics, he missed the bronze medal by a whisker.
