Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Indian marathon boy grounded


He runs seven hours at a stretch, sometimes as much as 48km (30 miles). On a daily basis.

And Budhia Singh is just three and a half years old.

The Indian wonder boy who ran 65km will not be allowed to participate in more races after doctors discovered he had severely damaged his health.

Police and state welfare authorities in the eastern state of Orissa took the boy, Budhia Singh, for medical tests on Friday after India's human rights watchdog ordered an inquiry into the case.

A team of doctors who conducted medical tests on the boy found he was undernourished, anaemic and under cardiological stress.

This is an icredible story. First when his father died his mother sold him to a person for Rs800(USD 20), because she could not provide for her four children.

But the young boy came to the attention of Biranchi Das, a judo coach (seen in the pix with the boy) and the secretary of the local judo association.

Mr Das said he noticed Budhia's talent when scolding him for being a bully.

"Once, after he had done some mischief, I asked him to keep running till I came back," Mr Das told the BBC.

"I got busy in some work. When I came back after five hours, I was stunned to find him still running."

This is unaccepable behavior from a professional coach and it shows the alarming abuse of children.

Hopefully good sense will prevail to stop abusing children.

No comments: