Running into trouble

A week after India's real-life Forrest Gump, Budhia Singh, collapsed having run a 65km marathon and securing his place in the record books as the youngest marathoner in history, the four-year-old boy has been stuck in the middle of a legal tug-of-war between local child welfare officials and his coach in the eastern Indian state of Orissa. While his coach believes that Budhia is a child prodigy and the government has no authority to prevent him from running, officials of the child welfare department say the child could not be allowed to run long distances because it was damaging his health. Indeed, yesterday state officials went a step further and warned the coach he could face arrest if he defies a ban on making the child run more marathons. 'If the boy's coach does not pay any heed to this, he may be arrested for inflicting cruelty,' said child development minister Pramila Mallick in Orissa. Doctors say the child is 'under cardiological stress' and that if he continues running marathons, he could end up with renal failure. Biranchi Das, the child's coach, who is still attempting to have the boy's ban removed by the courts, contends the medical tests on the child conducted by the government have been 'doctored'. When Budhia collapsed after running 65km last week, sections of the Indian media cried that the child was being exploited by his mentor. India's National Human Rights Commission demanded an inquiry and health check-up of the boy prodigy. Immediately Orissa's Child Welfare Committee [CWC] ordered a medical probe. A specially constituted team of five doctors including a sports medicine specialist from the Federal Sports Authority of India, examined the boy. The medical report CWC received stated: 'His protein catabolism rate is high and he is under cardiological stress, probably resulting from long-distance runs. His serum urea and serum potassium profile suggest that if he continues to run, it may aggravate his condition and result in renal failure. 'There is a possibility of an early onset of osteoarthritis - damage and loss of cartilage of joints - which may cripple the child in future.' The report went further in stating the boy's blood pressure was above normal and that the possibility of heatstroke would be a threat to his life. On the basis of the findings the CWC recommended that Budhia be nurtured 'in a scientific manner' under the tutelage of a 'modern and qualified coach' and with proper medical supervision at a recognised sports institute. But Budhia's coach and mentor Das, a judo coach, has vehemently rejected the report. 'The [medical] report was doctored and manipulated to obstruct Budhia's growth. Despite our repeated requests they did not allow Budhia's personal physician to be present during the tests. It was natural that the government doctors had to prepare the reports according to government's whims - not impartially.' Das even suggested that the police had taken a heavy-handed approach in seizing the boy for medical tests. 'It is a criminal act,' he said. Das has repeatedly resisted and objected to medical tests on the boy by the CWC's appointed team, leaving the agency little choice but to seek police help in getting Budhia to the hospital. 'A team of three doctors conducts regular check-ups on Budhia to find out if anything is wrong with him. I love him. I cannot understand why these people are so concerned. They should know that he is an extraordinary child with a God-gifted stamina,' Das said. Das discovered Budhia's running talent when he spotted him outside his judo club 'doing mischief'. Despite Mallick's warning of potential arrest for continuing to make the boy run, Das says he will not be 'cowed down' by the government that easily and vows to fight on. 'I am convinced that he [Budhia] is perfectly healthy and regular running is keeping him in better tune physically,' he said. 'I think I have to change my legal strategy to take on the government, which is represented by officials who have no idea about the talent and power of this child. 'He has been running seven hours a day for a year now because all he knows is to run, eat and sleep. I cannot let this ban kill Budhia. I cannot stop him from running.' Budhia hit the media spotlight as a sporting hero and child prodigy last year when at just 31/2 years old he was running six hours at a stretch, sometimes as long as 48km on a daily basis, Das, at that time, was being compared to Bela Karolyi, authoritarian coach to former Romanian Olympic gymnast Nadia Comaneci and news channels and newspaper started to run regular items on the wonder child. But when last week the boy attempted to run 70km and was stopped by doctors when he showed signs of exhaustion after 65km, India's television and newspapers dramatically changed their tune and said the coach and mentor was 'abusing and exploiting' the child. As soon as the media raised a hue and cry against the potential damage to the child's health, the Child Welfare Ministry placed a ban on long distance running by Budhia last week. Despite the government's ban on Budhia's running, he continues to be a hero in Orissa. His rise from slum to young superstar is spreading fast as a modern fable for the times. When Budhia Singh was two, his alcoholic father died. Working as a domestic help in the neighbourhood his widowed mother found it difficult to provide for her four children in her one-room hut, at the edge of a slum in Bhubaneswar, capital of Orissa. As some poverty-stricken families sometimes do in the region, Budhia's mother sold him to a street hawker for 800 rupees ($138). But the two-year-old boy's fortunes took a different turn when Das took a shine to him. Budhia's mother who lived in a ramshackle one-roomed mud-walled hut was happy as Das took her son to his judo school where in a well-furnished hostel, he stayed with 20 other students. The boy's phenomenal physical stamina was discovered in a bizarre way. One day after Budhia was caught bullying another student, Das, as a punishment, ordered him to run around the judo school's gymnasium until he got back. As it happened, Das got distracted with various errands. But when he returned to his club five hours later he was astonished to see the three-year-old still happily running laps and he knew he had chanced upon a phenomenon. Since then Budhia ran and ran, until he hit the ban last week. Das says Budhia loves to run and feels uncomfortable if he misses any chance to every day. 'This morning too he ran 16km,' said Das, an hour after Ms Mallick had announced stricter implementation of the ban. Although the child rights activists and welfare officials charge that Das is using the boy 'like a monkey for personal financial gain', the coach, who has also taken on the air of being a national saviour, says that whatever he is doing is in the child's best interest. 'What were those government officials doing when Budhia's poor mother could not get food for him and sold him for 800 rupees? 'I rescued him; I am his adopted father now. I have the right to take decision about his career. 'However, I am confident nobody can stop this boy from running to international glory one day. 'If I can manage to send him to Kenya to train for a few years he can win an Olympic medal in the marathon and bring laurels to India,' an unrepentant Das said. For now, the jury is still out in India.