‘In 1964, a lone cop guarded torch route’

Singh is son of Major Lacchman Singh, a sports icon and one of the torchbearers in 1964 when the torch came here before the Games were held in Tokyo.

“The torch landed at Delhi airport on August 28, 1964 and the only people who seemed aware of it were those in the sports fraternity,” Singh says. “There was, of course, no live television coverage then, and only a handful of mediapersons were present.”

Eighteen, and a college student, at the time, Singh took his father to the airport on a rickety scooter where he saw “four or five Japanese officials” carrying the flame in an old-fashioned Davy Safety Lamp. “It was a no-fuss affair: just a tent put up on one side of the airport. I don’t recall any speeches being made.”

The flame was handed over to Gurbachan Singh Randhawa, a finalist in 110-m hurdles at the Tokyo Olympics, who ran the first leg.

“My father’s turn came somewhere between the airport and Dhaula Kuan — he ran for around 800 metres before passing the torch on. We then went to the Town Hall to see the equally simple ceremony there.”

None of the torchbearers, Singh says, asked the organisers to arrange any transportation to Town Hall.

In these mercantile times, Singh finds it hard to believe that the torchbearers can even buy replicas of the torch as souvenir. “Imagine asking Milkha Singh to buy the torch! At that time, each relay runner was given a separate torch to run with; they were allowed to keep it even after the run.”

The stainless steel torch — it weighs 836 grams — now occupies a prime spot in Singh’s Defence Colony house. “For two months after the relay, a strange, smoky smell clung to the torch. We had to store it away because it was so conspicuous,” Singh’s elder sister Indra Sharma says. She recalls how the Japanese Olympic Association had sent a vest with the 1964 Olympics logo, and a pair of sneakers. “It was a proper Olympic Games kit that arrived a few days before the relay,” she says.