Milkha Singh honoured at House of Lords

Legendary Indian athlete Milkha Singh was honoured for his services to sports at a special event at the House of Lords on Friday.

House of Lords member and NRI industrialist Lord Swraj Paul presented the honour to 'The Flying Sikh', who is in London on a promotional tour for an upcoming movie based on his life.

"We wanted to honour him and let him know that we are very proud of what he has achieved. I am very glad that Bollywood has decided to make a film on him. His story will inspire a new generation of young athletes who can see how a boy from an ordinary family went on to make global headlines," Lord Paul said.

The 77-year-old Milkha later visited the famous Sri Guru Singh Sabha Gurudwara in Southall, the predominantly Sikh suburb of London. There he met Fauja Singh, the world's oldest marathon runner at 102 years of age.

The local Sikh community turned out in full force to meet the sporting icon who inspired UK-based Fauja Singh to

start his own exciting marathon career.

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, which releases worldwide on July 12, traces the story of Milkha's life through the vagaries of partition of India in 1947, during which his family was brutally killed, to a life of petty crime and on to competitive sport.

Image: Milkha Singh is flanked by Bhaag Milkha Bhaag director Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra and actor Farhan Akhtar.

Photograph: Abhijit Mhamunkar