Spotlight back on Milkha

It was just one win; of course, it was by far the most polished masterpiece that Dr Arthur...

It was just one win; of course, it was by far the most polished masterpiece that Dr Arthur W Howard produced during his heydays.

There have been books on the subject, on how Milkha Singh lost the third place to Mel Spencer in the 400 metres race during the Rome Olympics. However, not many are aware about the tale behind the 8216;Flying Sikh8217;s8217; victory over the South African in the 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games. Milkha won the 400m gold at Cardiff while Spencer came in second.

8220;People still remember Milkha8217;s performance at the Rome Olympics. What they don8217;t know perhaps is Milkha8217;s victory over the same Mel Spencer in the final of 1958 Cardiff Commonwealth Games,8221; says Dr Howard who was in Chandigarh on Sunday to meet one of his most famous proteacute;geacute;s, Milkha Singh.

8220;Milkha was in good form before the Cardiff Commonwealth games. In Cardiff we employed a different tactics of making him run to his full capacity in the first 350 metres while Spencer only gave his best in the last 100 ,8221; says Howard.

It was only by chance that Howard was there at Cardiff in 1958 as he was on his way to his home in United States of America for vacation. 8220;During that time, national coaches did not travel with the team. It was only by chance that I was there at Cardiff. Milkha still believes that if I was there with him at the Rome Olympics, he would have won,8221; recalls Howards.

He was enchanted by Milkha then and still at the age of 95, is still mesmerised by the memory of Milkha8217;s 1958 feat.

8220;When I first saw Milkha I thought knew this guy had it in him to succeed at the international level. One thing I noticed at that time was the amount of practice he would put in,8221; says Howard who was appointed as Indian national athletics coach in 1945.

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It was in 1945 that Dr Howard arrived in India from United States as a part of the United Mathadeus Church Mission Programme and was later associated with the Indian athletics team as head coach from 1948 to 1960 before going back to United States in 1978.

Ask him about his view on present day Indian athletes and he says that they have to work hard to improve their performances.

8220;I have not been hearing much about Indian athletes for quite some time. Nowadays they have got all the training and coaching facilities but they have to work hard on their basics,8221; says Howard.