"Many have received the Bharat Ratna but nobody remembers their names... However everybody will remember that Tendulkar got the Ratna. He is everybody's sport icon," Milkha, who was here in the city to launch the DVD of "Vande Mataram... The New Light" by Smriti Lala of Rag Anurag Music Research Academy said.
Asked whether he's happy with the Padma Shri he received from the government way back in 1958 after winning the Commonwealth Games gold medal, the flying Sikh said: "I don't hanker after awards. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru knew me personally ... I could have easily asked for acres of land but in our times we were not running after awards," he said here.
The 'Flying Sikh', who is still the first Indian sportsperson to have won an individual gold medal in Commonwealth Games (in 400m in Cardiff in 1958), said athletics is the real sport and his last wish is to see an Indian win an Olympic medal.
"We have won medals in boxing, shooting, wrestling, badminton but only by winning a medal in athletics will put your country in the world map," he said citing example of Usain Bolt for Jamaica.
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"Yet, another Milkha Singh has not been produced in the country in nearly 60 years after me. I will say that the federation and the athletes were also to take some of the blame. Not all, but some athletes are lacking in commitment," he said.
"It (the medal) slipped by a whisker in Rome 1960. But before I die, I want to see a youngster win it. That's my only wish, why can't a country of 1.2 billion produce another Milkha?" he asked.