Olympian hurdler Jagmohan dies

Patiala, November 17

Olympian hurdler and multi-faceted sports personality Jagmohan Singh, who introduced scientific fitness training methods in athletics and other sports during his long stint at the NIS Patiala, died of a heart attack here today. He was 88.

Jagmohan, who had also served as joint director general of the Sports Authority of India, represented the country in the 110m hurdles in the 1960 Rome Olympics. He was the national champion in this event from 1958 to 1960. He had also held national records in 110m hurdles and decathlon.

After completing his B.Sc. degree, Jagmohan served in Punjab Police for nearly 10 years before joining NIS Patiala as a teacher in 1962. He passed then Amateur Athletics Federation of India’s coaching course in 1956. He became Dean Teaching at SAI and was with the NIS Patiala till 1990. He also served as Director Sports at Punjabi University from 1990 to 1993. In 1965, Jagmohan did a specialisation course in Physical Fitness and Sports Conditioning from the University of West Germany in Cologne. After returning from Germany, he introduced scientific training methods in the NIS courses.

He was chief athletics coach in the 1966 Commonwealth Games. — PTI