Biography of athlete Makhan released

Our Correspondent

Hoshiarpur, August 17

A young writer from Chandigarh, Prateek Sharma, was so hurt after reading the news about the sufferings of Arjuna awardee athlete Makhan Singh that he decided to highlight his plight. He met his family and after a year-long research about Makhan Singh, has come up with his biography. It is aptly titled: ‘Makhan Singh: The forgotten hero’.

After finishing the book, Prateek visited Makhan Singh’s family at village Bathulla in Hoshiarpur and got it released by his family. “This is not just the title of the book but narrates the reality about Makhan Singh and his family who suffered greatly. A fine athlete, Makhan had defeated the legendary Milkha Singh in the 1962 National Games at Kolkata. Makhan, a soldier like Milkha, had ended up losing his leg while driving a truck after retirement, living a life of neglect and had died unnoticed. Even his family was not taken care of and they had to come up with an offer to sell his Arjuna Award to get some money.

Prateek said his motive behind publishing the book was to make the people know about the great athlete who was a real hero but was forgotten, hiding his glory under the dust of time and ignorance. “I feel this book will make his memories and achievements remembered for long. “Soon, we will be making a documentary on his life,” Prateek added.