He was the only Indian athlete to win an individual athletics gold medal at a Commonwealth Games until Krishna Poonia won the discus throw gold medal at the 2010 CommonwealthGames. He also won gold medals in the 1958 and 1962 Asian Games. He represented Indiain the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, andthe 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He was awarded the Padma Shri, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in recognition of his sports achievements.The race for which Singh is best remembered is his fourth-place finish in the 400meters final at the 1960 Olympic Games, which he had entered as one of the favourites. Heled the race till the 200m mark before easing off, allowing others to pass him. Variousrecords were broken in the race, which required a photo finish and saw American OtisDavis being declared the winner by one-hundredth of a second over German Carl Kaufmann.Singh's fourth-place time of 45.73 seconds was the Indian national record for almost 40years.From beginnings that saw him orphaned and displaced during the Partition of India, Singhhas become a sporting icon in his country. In 2008, journalist Rohit Brijnath described Singhas "the finest athlete India has ever produced". In July 2012. The Independent said that"India's most revered Olympian is a gallant loser" find 2 adverb​