Budhia Singh

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Budhia Singh (born 2002) is an Indian boy and the world's youngest marathon runner. Generally considered an athletic phenomenon, Budhia has participated in (and finished) races of up to 60 kilometers (37.3 miles) in roughly six hours and thirty minutes.

Budhia's ability to run has led to a certain amount of celebrity status and he has appeared in a number of television commercials. These commercials and Budhia's fame have allegedly lead to significant financial gains on the behalf of the late Mr. Biranchi Das, Budhia's coach. Controversy over the nature of these gains had led to accusations of exploitation against Mr. Das and an official inquiry by Indian child welfare officials was launched 4 January 2006. ^[1]

On 8th May 2006, a Government statement had ordered that he stopped running. The announcement came after doctors found the boy had "high blood pressure and cardiological stress"

As of 13th August 2007 Budhia's coach "Biranchi Das" was arrested by Indian police on suspicion of torture. Singh has accused his coach of beating him and withholding food, and said he would give up running. Police said they had arrested Das and charged him with criminal intimidation. Das says Singh's family are making up charges as a result of a few petty rows. He said he recently expelled Singh's sister from a judo school he runs because she misbehaved, and he had refused to build Singh's mother a new house. But Singh showed reporters scars he said were left by the coach's mistreatment. "He hung me upside down from a ceiling fan," he told reporters, smiling and fidgeting. "He locked me in a room for two days without food." Das denies the charges and says the scars are old, the result of the boy's tough early childhood in a slum in the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar. ^[2]^[3]

On April 13, Biranchi Das was shot dead in Bhubaneshwar, Orissa in what is believed to be an event unconnected with Budhia Singh.^[4]

1 Budhia enters his name in the Limca Book of Records
2 Murder of coach Biranchi Das
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Budhia enters his name in the Limca Book of Records

On May 1, 2006, Budhia Singh from Orissa completed a record breaking 65 kilometer (km) run from Jagannath temple, Puri to Bhubaneshwar. He was accompanied by his coach Biranchi Das and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawans. This feat was registered in the Limca Book of Records.^[5]

[edit] Murder of coach Biranchi Das

Biranchi Das was shot dead by unidentified assailants at Bhubaneswar on the evening of April 13,2008. According to police "Das, a judo coach, was sitting inside the judo centre in BJB College area along with some of his friends after a training session when the assailants struck". The police has ruled out any link to his involvement with Budhia Singh.^[6]