Nari Shakti Puraskar Awardee, Centenarian Sprinter Man Kaur Passes Away

Sprinter Man Kaur, who made several records for over a hundred years old category passes away on Saturday. The 105-year-old athlete was suffering from gall bladder cancer, her son Gurudev Singh confined. As per reports, Kaur died of a heart attack.

The centenarian was admitted to Derabassi Ayurveda Hospital in Mohali where she took her last breath. As per reports, the athlete had become weak as she was not able to complete her diet due to cancer.

Kaur had taken up sprinting at the age of 93 and was able to win over 17 gold medals in her career. In 2020, the government of India had awarded her Nari Shakti Puraskar for her achievements in athletics by the President of India.

The centenarian was known as the "miracle mom from Chandigarh". Her surprising win in 2017 at a 100-metre sprint of the World Masters Game in Auckland had made her famous.

Kaur is survived by two sons and a daughter. In 2016, she had made a world record by becoming the fastest centenarian at a competition in America. For the 2017 games in Auckland, she was trained by her son, Gurudev Singh, who 79-years-old at the time. In 2019, Kaur had bagged a gold medal in the 200-meter sprint and shot put at 2.21 meters at Asian Masters Championship in Malaysia. She was 103-years-old then.

In a competition in Poland, Kaur had completed a 40-meter race in 36 seconds as per reports.

Talking about her love for sports, Man Kaur had said, “Mujhe sports pasand hai… Changa daud raha hu, ruk na kyun bhai?”

Sprinter Man Kaur was born in 1916 and was a resident of Patiala. Her devotion to sports had her wake up at four in the morning every day. Apart from training in the gym, she also used to run 20 kilometres every day.

Talking about his mother, her son had said, "She encourages the old ladies that they should run, they should not eat the wrong food, and they should encourage their children also to take part in the Games.”