Ranjit Bhatia, a distance runner who represented India at the 1960 Rome Olympics, passed away on Sunday after suffering from a prolonged illness.
Born in 1936, Bhatia completed his early education from the Lawrence School in Sanawar. He then went on to become a Rhodes scholar from the Oxford University in the United Kingdom.
Bhatia ran in the 5000m and marathon events for India at the Rome Olympics in 1960 and was a contemporary of the great ‘Flying Sikh’ Milka Singh.
“I would call it passing of a legend,” Milkha said. “He was a perfect gentleman and a good athlete.”
Recalling his days with Bhatia at Rome Olympics, Milkha said, “Even though Ranjit had come to Rome from Oxford where he was studying, he met all of us warmly and we spent a lot of time together. We now have stopped producing scholar athletes.”
Sriram Singh, another Indian Olympian track and field athlete, paid rich tribute to Bhatia. Singh said, “‘Bhatia sahib’, as Bhatia was fondly known in athletics circles, was always there to help any Indian athlete.”
Reminiscing about his 800m race at the 1972 Munich Olympics, Sriram said: “I had run a good race in Munich but the electronic board showed a very slow time against my name. Then Bhatia sahib protested on my behalf and it was found that a pigeon was stuck in the electronic wires of the board causing the machine to malfunction. Later the organisers corrected my timings.”
The Athletics Federation of India too mourned the demise of Bhatia.
“Bhatia was a well known and respected figure in athletics circle not only in Delhi but throughout the country. His contribution to Indian athletics will always be remembered,” the AFI said.
Bhatia remained in touch with the sport he loved even after he retired, by writing regularly on Indian athletics for Indian and foreign publications. Bhatia covered seven Olympics editions for different Indian newspapers.
Bhatia is survived by wife Rani and daughters Ritu and Tavishi.
