Nirmal Kaur Saini (8 October 1938 13 June 2021) was an Indian volleyball player and captain of the

India women's national volleyball team The India women's national volleyball team represents India in international competitions and is managed by the Volleyball Federation of India. In July 2018, Minimol Abraham was appointed as the captain of the Indian national team for the 201 ...

. She was the wife of athlete Milkha Singh and the mother of

Jeev Milkha Singh Jeev Milkha Singh (born 15 December 1971) is an Indian professional golfer who became the first player from India to join the European Tour in 1998. He has won four events on the European Tour, becoming the most successful Indian on tour. H ...

Biography

She was born on 8 October 1938, in

Sheikhupura Sheikhupura (Punjabi language, Punjabi / ; ) also known as Qila Sheikhupura, is a city and district in the Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. Founded by the Mughal Empire, Mughal Emperor Jahangir in 1607, Sheikhupura is the List of ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

(now part of Pakistan). She was Director of Sports for Women in the State Department. She graduated from

Panjab University Panjab University (PU) is an Indian collegiate public state university located in Chandigarh. Funded through both State and Union governments, it is considered a state university. It traces its origins to the University of the Punjab in Lahor ...

with a master's degree in Political Science in 1958.

Personal life

Nirmal Saini later married Milkha Singh. She was the mother of 3 daughters and 1 son, golfer

and lived in

Chandigarh Chandigarh is a city and union territory in northern India, serving as the shared capital of the states of Punjab and Haryana. Situated near the foothills of the Shivalik range of Himalayas, it borders Haryana to the east and Punjab in the ...

. In 1999, they adopted the seven-year-old son of Havildar Bikram Singh, who had died in the Battle of Tiger Hill."Jeev Milkha Singh,"
''the south-asian.com'' June 2002."Carry on, Jeev,"
''The Telegraph'' (Calcutta, India), 4 November 2006. She died on 13 June 2021, in

Mohali Mohali, officially Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar or Ajitgarh, is a planned city in the Mohali district in Punjab, India, Punjab, India, which is an administrative and a commercial hub lying south-west of Chandigarh. It is the headquarters of the M ...

, due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

; her husband died five days later, also from the virus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saini, Nirmal Indian women's volleyball players 1938 births People from Sheikhupura Sportswomen from Punjab, India Volleyball players from Punjab, India 20th-century Indian women 20th-century Indian people 2021 deaths Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in India