Milkha Singh is one of the most inspirational names in Indian history. His life-style, discipline and dedication is a study course for everyone who wants to make something big in life. The flying sikh passed away aged 91 after battling with Covid-19 for nearly one month. The confirmation came from his son's tweet as he said, "My father has passed away."

His wife and former Indian volleyball captain Nirmal Kaur contracted the virus on May 21. She died in a medical facility in Chandigarh due to COVID-related complications last Sunday. She was 85 as well.

This left a void in Indian sports as Milkha Singh never go to see his last wish. Milkha's last wish was to see India win gold in athletics at Olympics.

Read Also: Tokyo Olympics 2020: India's top 10 medal contenders at Tokyo

 Flying Sikh, Milkha Singh dominated Indian track and field for over a decade in the 50s and 60s. He represented India at three Olympic Games; Melbourne 1956, Rome 1960 and Tokyo 1964. He won four Asian Games gold medals and was the first Indian athlete to win an individual athletics gold medal at a Commonwealth Games.

Read Also: 15 Iconic Photos in Olympic History

Milkha's Rome failure has haunted him throughout his life. Thushe wanted someone to take the tri-colour on the podium at the Olympics in athletics. The then World Champion, Milkha Singh was the favourite to win the Gold in the 400m final at the Rome Olympics in 1960. He finished fourth with a time of 45.73s - a national record that stood for 40 years.

Till then no Indian has been able to do finish at the top of the podium for India at the biggest stage of sport.

"Everyone should have a goal to become something in life. In badminton, (Pullela) Gopichand has really done well. He has produced world-class badminton players. Every coach should look up to him. But athletics is the main event in the Olympics. We have produced 7-8 good athletes but couldn't win a medal. Milkha Singh, PT Usha (800m), Anju Bobby George (Long Jump), Sriram Singh (800m), Gurbachan Singh Randhawa (110m hurdles) etc", Milkha Singh at the Fit India event along with Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju in 2020.

"These five athletes reached the final but couldn't grab the medal. It is my last wish (that India win an athletics medal). Before the Rome Olympics, I ran 80 international races, and saw the tri-colour being raised and the national anthem being sung. I had tears of joy. I want to say there is talent in athletics in India. In Rome 1960, people believed that if someone would win 400m then it would be Milkha Singh (but it did not happen)."

Milkha Singh at the Fit India Event

As India lost one of its most inspirational athletes, it will be up to new generation Indian track and field athletes to fulfil Milkha Singh's dream. Surely, there will be no one happier than the "Flying Sikh" if that day comes at the Tokyo Olympics, starting next month.

The year 2025 is going to be exciting for Indian sports fans as it promises an action-packed calendar. This includes world events in hockey, squash, boxing, badminton, shooting and cricket, alongside the National Games and Khelo India competitions. The country is set to witness a wide range of sporting events this year. 

Also Read: Major Dhyan Chand Khel Ratna Award 2024: Full Winners List

After bidding goodbye to an eventful 2024, an exciting 2025 awaits sports fans as far as India are concerned. India will host several big competitions across sports this year, including the Women’s ODI World Cup and the Para World Athletics Championships.

Apart from hosting competitions, India will also take part in several multi-nation tournaments internationally, including the ICC Champions Trophy which will be held in a hybrid model with matches taking place in Pakistan and UAE.

Also Read: ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 schedule announced

Several Indian athletes and teams, including the likes of Neeraj Chopra and Manu Bhaker, will be in action this year. The India women’s cricket team will hope to end a long wait to possibly clinch the Women’s ODI World Cup.

Here’s the complete list of major sports events in India 2025.

Major sports events in India 2025

After the Paris Olympics 2024, now Paris Paralympics is going to start from 28th August. The 84 contingent will compete for India at Paralympics 2024 which will run till September 8. This time Indian athletes are participating in 12 sports. This is India's largest contingent so far in the Paralympics. Bhagyashree Jadhav and Sumit Antil will be India's flag bearers.

So before the start of the games, let's take a look at the medals India won at the Paralympics so far.

Also Read: India's largest contingent to compete in Paris Paralympics 2024

India won 31 Paralympic medals so far

The Paralympic Games started in 1960. India sent an Indian contingent for the first time in 1968. The Paralympic Games started for India long after the Summer Olympics. Despite this, the country has so far won 31 medals in the Paralympics, including 9 gold, 12 silver and 10 bronze medals. India has participated in 11 editions so far.

India got 19 medals in Tokyo Paralympics

54 athletes had participated in the Tokyo Paralympics and won a maximum of 19 medals which included 5 gold, 8 silver, and 6 bronze medals. Out of a total of 162 nations, India had finished 24th in the overall medal tally at Tokyo, while its accomplishment of 19 medals is ranked 20th based on the number of medals.

Murlikant Petkar won the first medal

Murlikant Petkar, the hero of the 1965 Indo-Pak war, is India's first Paralympic medal winner. Murlikant Petkar won the gold medal in swimming in the Men's 50m Freestyle 3 event at the 1972 Heidelberg Games.

Petkar, a soldier of the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) in the Indian Army, was a boxer. He became paralyzed after being shot during the India-Pakistan war of 1965. After this, he started swimming. In 2018, he was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.

Joginder Singh Bedi captured 3 medals

In the 1984 Paralympics, Bhimrao Kesarkar won the silver medal in men's javelin throw L6 with a throw of 34.55m. While Joginder Singh Bedi had won silver medal in Men's Shotput L6, a bronze medal in Men's Javelin Throw L6 event, and bronze medal in Men's Discus Throw L6 event.

India at Paralympics 2004

India has participated in every Paralympic Games since 1984, but the next medal came in the 2004 Paralympics in Athens. Devendra Jhajharia won the gold medal in the men's javelin throw F44/46 event. At the same time, Indian powerlifter Rajinder Singh Rahelu won the bronze medal in the men's 56 kg weight category by lifting 157.5 kg. 

In London 2012, High jumper Girisha N Gowda won the silver medal for India. 

Also Read: Largest refugee team set to compete at Paris Paralympics

India at Paralympics 2016

Tamil Nadu's Mariyappan Thangavelu won the gold medal in the men's high jump F42 event at the Rio 2016 Paralympics. He had jumped 1.89m. At the same time, Varun Singh Bhati won the bronze medal in the high jump competition. 

Avani Lekhara creates history

Avani Lekhara won the gold medal in her first Paralympics. She set a new Paralympic record of 249.6 in the women's 10m air rifle shooting standing SH1 final in Tokyo. With this, Avani became the first Indian woman to win a Paralympic gold medal.

India at Paralympics: India's Medals so far

PR Sreejesh, the legendary former Indian hockey goalkeeper expressed his admiration for former India cricket coach Rahul Dravid’s coaching philosophy and is hoping to follow a similar path in mentoring the next generation of hockey players, keeping the 2036 Olympics in mind. Sreejesh wants to work closely with the country's junior and emerging talents. He aims to groom the future stars of Indian hockey just like Dravid did with the Under 19 players.

Read Also: India at Olympics: Every member of the medal-winning hockey teams

Rahul Dravid's journey began with nurturing India’s U-19 and A team players before leading the senior side. Sreejesh wants to play a similar role within the hockey setup.

"I want to become a coach. That was always my plan but now there is a question of when. After retirement, family comes first. I need to talk with them if they are OK with this. Now you have to listen to your wife a little bit," Sreejesh told PTI.

"The way I wanted is start with the juniors, and Rahul Dravid is an example. It's like you develop a bunch of players, get them into the senior team, and let them follow you," he said.

Sreejesh wants to transform Indian Hockey setup into the World's best side before the 2036 Olympics

Sreejesh wants to start at the grassroots level, working his way up to the position of chief national coach by the time the 2032 Brisbane Olympics arrive. Sreejesh believes that the Indian Hockey setup can rule the world once again like they did in the 50's and 60's.

"I start this year, next in 2025, we have the junior World Cup and in another two years, the senior team will be playing the World Cup. So maybe, by 2028, I can produce 20 or 40 players and by 2029, I can have 15-20 players into the senior team, and by 2030 almost like 30-35 players in the senior side. And 2032, I will be ready for the chief coach's position. If India gets to host the 2036 Olympic Games, I want to be the India coach," Sreejesh concluded.

The former goalkeeper played a crucial role in India's bronze medal win at the recently-concluded Olympics in Paris. He was also a part of the team that won bronze in the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

It was in the javelin throw that the rivalry between India's Neeraj Chopra and Pakistan's Arshad Nadeem came out onto the Olympic stage at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. Neeraj won gold and Arshad couldn't medal in Tokyo, but both athletes dominated the field in Paris and the latter shattered the Olympic record to take gold. Neeraj could only get to silver but with his season-best throw. Neeraj would've had to throw more than 90m to win the gold. By winning the gold in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Neeraj had joined shooter Abhinav Bindra as the only two Indians to have won an Olympic gold medal in an individual event. Bindra feels that winning back-to-back medals at the Olympics is an “Incredible feat”.

Read Also: Some major controversies of the Paris Olympics 2024

“I think we are all very proud of him. The Pakistani (Arshad Nadeem) is a worthy winner on the day, the way he performed. But I think Neeraj should be proud of himself,” Bindra said in an interview with The Indian Express. 

“There will be a level of disappointment, which is fine because that’s how the life of an athlete is. You’re not gonna get everything going your way, but he performed admirably. A lot of expectations were also on him. It’s not easy to be in that spot, but he delivered. Now, he can go back to the drawing board and reassess what needs to be done. Really work on how he can make the big leap,” said Bindra. 

‘Olympics is a platform which is imperfect for performance,’ Abhinav Bindra in an interview

Abhinav Bindra thinks that the Olympics is an imperfect platform for athletes to put in their best performance as there are so many things moving around it. “The Olympics is a very, very hard platform to perform at for a variety of reasons. But the Olympics is also a platform that is imperfect for performance. Because there are external expectations, and you also have internal expectations, that just doesn’t allow you to let go,” said Bindra. 

Read Also: India at Olympics: India's medals at the Olympics by sports

Arshad Nadeem threw 92.97m to win the gold while Neeraj could manage to throw 89.45m. He hasn't been able to get past that 90m mark and he will be desperate to do that in the coming years. The 2008 Gold medallist Bindra said that it's not easy for the athletes to put in their best performance over and over again at the Olympics. 

“Performance sometimes is almost artistic. That’s where you almost have to allow it to happen. And the ability to let go is very difficult. So skill is almost thrown into the dustbin. Sometimes for most athletes, there will be a few who are just so great, but for a majority, it’s not just picking up your skill and trying to get things together. You have to almost find perfection on that imperfect day,” he concluded.