chandigarh sporting legends milkha singh and balbir singh sr on tuesday paid rich tributes to late former president apj abdul kalam describing him as a visionary who ignited the young minds both said the void created by his death on monday will be difficult to fill a selfmade man who rose from a humble background to occupy the countrys highest office a man who ignited the young minds and created a special place in the hearts of millions he was a trulys peoples president and a rare gem milkha said while condoling the demise of dr kalam the 91yearold hockey legend balbir singh sr said that dr kalams death is a great loss four our country truly a bharat ka ratan indias gem he was a visionary and his inspirational words the most important dreams are the ones which dont allow you to sleep at night still ring in my ears balbir singh sr said let us all take a pledge each one individually that we will work towards making his dreams for india a reality i do hope and pray that we are able to realise them said balbir sr who was part the famous gold winning teams from 1948 to 1956 olympics srs 1952 record of most goals five in an olympic final still stands and he also figures in the list of 16 iconic olympians of alltime remembering dr kalam milkha singh said i have very deep respect for him like our prime minister narendra modi and also like us president barack obama he rose from humble background i salute him recalling one of his meetings with dr kalam when he was the countrys president milkha singh said it was during an award ceremony function that i met him in the rashtrapati bhavan he was very happy to see me and was keen how countrys sports can be taken forward dr kalam also asked me why the country was not making it big in athletics i told him about various factors and he listened very keenly i told dr kalam that having coaches and having other facilities definitely helps but the fire has to come from within i also told him about myself how people used to dismiss me as some mad fellow who used to run at 2 am in the dead of the night but i was determined to something big he recalled follow toi sports on twitter toisportsnews