Olympian felicitated

India’s great athlete Mohinder Singh Gill, who came to Punjab from the US on a visit, was honoured with the ‘Hall of Fame’ by the Punjab Olympic Association upon his arrival in Mohali.

Punjab Olympic Association secretary general Raja KS Sidhu honoured Gill and showed the ‘Hall of Fame’ depicting the achievements of the players who have brought glory to the state, at the Punjab Olympic Bhawan. A picture of Gill has been put up there. The association bestowed on him with the honour of ‘Hall of Fame’ and presented him with a souvenir.

Gill, a resident of Jalandhar, has been a permanent resident of the US for the 50 years. He is one of the great athletes of India who won gold in the triple jump in the 1970 Bangkok Asian Games and silver in the 1974 Tehran Asian Games. He won gold in the Asian Championship three times. He won a silver medal in the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games and bronze in the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. He also won silver in the 1971 Pre-Olympics. He participated in the 1972 Munich Olympics.

He has also won more than 50 international meets and was honoured with the Arjuna Award as well as the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award by Punjab Government. He is the first Asian athlete to be inducted into the ‘Hall of Fame’ of Caly Poly University in the US.