CHANDIGARH: Maan Kaur, who held four world records in the 100+ age category and won 35 medals at national and international levels, breathed her last on Saturday. She was 105.
The iconic athlete, who was conferred with ‘Nari Shakti Puraskar’ by the president, died at a private hospital in Dera Bassi, where she was being treated for cancer. She is survived by two sons and a daughter. Her son Gurdev Singh said, “She was doing fine but we do not know what suddenly happened, Kaur suffered heart attack and breathed her last in the afternoon. She had not been keeping good health for the past some months and was admitted to Ayurvedic hospital at Derabassi in Mohali.”
Kaur, who took to athletics at the age of 93 after seeing her son Gurdev Singh participate in Masters athletics, was known as the ‘Miracle Mom from Chandigarh.’ She won her first medal in 2007 at the Chandigarh Masters Athletics meet after seeing her son Gurdev take part in a race in Patiala.
She shot to fame in 2017 as she made a 100-metre dash in 74 seconds at the World Masters Games in Auckland and in 2019 finished the 200 meters at the Asian Masters Championship in Malaysia. In 2019 at the World Masters Athletics Championships in Poland she won gold in shot put, sprint, 200 meters and javelin throw in her age category.
Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh condoled the death. The state’s sports minister, Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi, said that a huge void has been created in the world of sports.