Centre seeks expert's view on Budhia's marathon run

Bhubaneswar, Sep 27 (UNI) The much-hyped Budhia Singh, world's youngest marathon runner who has entered into the Limca Book of Records by running non-stop 58 kms in May last, is in deep trouble now.

The Centre has taken strong exception to his marathon run at this tender age and asked the Orissa Chief Secretary to seek expert opinion and take appropriate action.

In a letter to the Chief Secretary Subash Pani, Union Youth Affairs Additional Secretary S Krishnan said atheletes under the age of 16 are not allowed to run a distance over three kms and opined that undue hardship had been caused to Budhia, the child prodigy who even could not understand the implication of undertaking such activities.

Mr Krishnan has requested the Chief Secretary to seek experts opinion on the matter and take appropriate action.

Official sources said the state Chief Secretary had requested Mr Krishnan to arrange experts at his end and give opinion on Budhia Singh. He also directed the state Sports Department to look into the matter with full background and apprise the Centre.

The Khurda district unit of the Child Welfare Committee(CWC) had taken exception to the marathon run undertaken by Budhia and imposed a restriction on his run stating that long distance run would damage the four-year-old boy's heart and lungs as suggested by a Medical board.

But Budhia's coach Biranchi Das had termed the medical report conducted by the Child Welfare Committee, as superficial and vague, and requested Women and Chield Development Minister Pramilla Mallick to conduct the tests again at the Army Sports Institute in Pune.

Mr Das had even challenged the medical board's findings and moved a petition to the Orissa High court praying for medical examination of Budhia by a separate team of doctors and questioning the CWC's authority to impose restriction on Budhia's marathon run.

The CWC, on the otherhand, had submitted that it has full power under a statutory Act to interfere if a minor boy's extraordinary talent is being overexploited or is not being adequately taken care of and described the marathon run of Budhia at a regular interval is 'inhumane'.

The division bench of the High Court, comprising chief justice Sujit Barman Roy and Justice M M Das, who had completed the hearing of the case, had reserved the judgment.

The National Human Rights Commission(NHRC) had also taken a suo-motu cognizance of the incident and sought comments from the state Government on the incident. The NHRC said a number of doctors had also voiced concern about the marathon run of Budhia Singh saying, long distance runs could make heart beat faster to meet the extra demand for oxygen, which could lead to heart failure.

The Commission quoted the doctors as saying, ''Budhia's cartilages could face serious wear and tear, ultimately affecting his normal growth. They also fear that nutritional deficiency, resulting from the abnormal amount of calories that the child burns up, by running long distances could also affect his muscle growth and bone strength'' UNI DP JYN DH GC1918