Fauja Singh (entrance), seen right here after ending a 10km race in Hong Kong in 2013. — AFP
NEW DELHI: India’s Fauja Singh, believed to be the world’s oldest distance runner, has died in a highway accident aged 114, his biographer stated Tuesday.
Singh, an Indian-born British nationwide, nicknamed the “Turbaned Tornado”, died after being hit by a car in Punjab state’s Jalandhar district on Monday.
“My Turbaned Tornado is no more,” Fauja’s biographer Khushwant Singh wrote on X.
“He was struck by an unidentified vehicle… in his village, Bias, while crossing the road. Rest in peace, my dear Fauja.”
Singh didn’t have a beginning certificates however his household stated he was born on April 1, 1911.
He ran full marathons (42 kilometre) until the age of 100.
His final race was a 10-kilometre (six-mile) occasion on the 2013 Hong Kong Marathon when 101, the place he completed in a single hour, 32 minutes and 28 seconds.
He grew to become a world sensation after taking over distance operating on the ripe previous age of 89, after the dying of his spouse and one in every of his sons, impressed by seeing marathons on tv.
Though broadly considered the world’s oldest marathon runner, he was not licensed by Guinness World Information as he couldn’t show his age, saying that beginning certificates didn’t exist when he was born beneath British colonial rule in 2011.
Singh was a torchbearer for the Olympics at Athens 2004 and London 2012, and appeared in ads with sports activities stars similar to David Beckham and Muhammad Ali.
His power and vitality had been credited to a routine of farm walks and a weight-reduction plan together with Indian candy “laddu” filled with dry fruits and home-churned curd.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid tribute on social media.
“Fauja Singh was extraordinary because of his unique persona and the manner in which he inspired the youth of India on a very important topic of fitness,” stated Modi on X
“He was an exceptional athlete with incredible determination. Pained by his passing away. My thoughts are with his family and countless admirers around the world.”
