Mohali: Veteran Olympian athlete Mohinder Singh Gill, who came to Punjab from the US on a visit, was honoured by the Punjab Olympic Association upon his arrival in Mohali.
Association secretary general Raja K S Sidhu inducted Gill into the “Hall of Fame” and presented him a souvenir. The “Hall of Fame” depicts the achievements of the players who have brought glory to the state at the Punjab Olympic Bhawan. Media adviser of the association Navdeep Singh Gill, who is writing a biography of Gill, was also honoured.
A resident of Jalandhar, Gill has been a permanent resident of the US for 50 years. He is one of the great athletes of India who won gold in the triple jump in the 1970 Bangkok Asian Games and silver in the 1974 Tehran Asian Games. He won gold in the Asian Championship three times. He won a silver medal in the 1974 Christchurch Commonwealth Games and a bronze in the 1970 Edinburgh Commonwealth Games. He also won silver in the 1971 pre-Olympics. He participated in the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Gill, who lived in the USA, won the NCAA title five times in a row. He also won over 50 international meets and was honoured with the Arjuna Award by the govt and the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Award by the Punjab govt. He is the first Asian athlete to be inducted into the ‘Hall of Fame’ of Caly Poly University in the US.