For some people, making the country proud even at the age of 102 is a great sense of accomplishment. Let’s take a moment to appreciate Mann Kaur for her will to do things at an age where people would spend time on bed. Hailing from Patiala in Punjab, the 102-year-old female athlete had won gold for India at the World Masters Athletics Championship held in Malaga, Spain.
In case you don’t know about the World Masters Athletics Championships, it is an Olympic version of events organised for the senior citizens. The championship has some events like track and field, across country as well as road running events for athletes above the age of 35 years.
Mann Kaur did India proud by winning the 200m race in the 100-104 age group category not once but for the second time. She won the gold by winning the race in just 3 minutes and 14.65 seconds.
Not just that, she had finished first in the 100 m race at the 2017 Masters in Auckland at an impressive track record of one minute and fourteen seconds. She has also become the oldest women athlete in India to clinch this title. Before to her international debut, she won her first medal at the Chandigarh Masters Athletic Meet in 2007. She has proved that age is just a number!
Who is her motivation?
Her 79-year-old son Guru Dev Singh backed his mother at the age of 93 to take up the sport whole-heartedly. Guru Dev Singh is also an active participant in the World Masters. Initially, Gurudev ensured that his mother was physically fit to participate for the international event, according to The Better India.
Popularly known as the ‘Miracle from Chandigarh’, it isn’t her first gold at the world championships. Mann Kaur hogged the limelight when she won gold at the World Master Championships in the USA in 2011 in the 100m and 200m event respectively, as reported by The Indian Express.
Apart from running race events, Mann also engaged in javelin throw and shot put at the 2017 World Masters Games. Mann’s ambition is quite clear. She has set her eyes on the World Masters 2020, which will be held in Japan.
In an interview with The Better India, actor, model and fitness expert Milind Soman said, “Mann Kaur is one of the most inspiring people I have ever met. As Pinkathon mascot and Ambassador, she has traveled with us across the country, telling thousands of women the secret to a mentally and physically healthy life. She has become a symbol of aspiration and hope for all who hear of her stupendous achievements.”
