BHUBANESWAR 12-May-2017
After a lull, former Odisha running sensation Budhia Singh is back in news. World`s youngest marathon runner has been invited to run in Kapilvastu, Lumbini, Nepal. Budhia along with Dr Anita Sabat will be starting for Nepal on May 14 from Bhubaneswar to join the `Buddha Flame Peace Torch March Run’ to be held next day in Nepal.
Mount Everest Marathon (Tenzing Hillary), also known as Tenzing Hillary Everest Marathon, is organising the `Buddha Flame Peace Torch March Run’ from Maya Devi Garden in Lumbini. Budhia will be carrying the Buddha Peace Flame Torch in tandem with Nepal`s National Runner and Olympian, Baikuntha Manandhar, Limca Book of Records holder and Marathon Man of Sikkim, Amar Subba, and Lumbini Bhairahawa-resident sports-girl, Saha Banu Khan.
The team will be running through important sites from Lumbini to Everest. Budhia will join the main team in Kathmandu to run around heritage sites of Swayambhunath and Boudhanath, before the main team proceeds to Mount Everest. Budhia is scheduled to return home to Bhubaneswar on May 17.
Born on February 10, 2002, Budhia, at the age of four, ran from Puri to Bhubaneswar, covering 65 kilometres (40 miles) in seven hours and two minutes. He was listed as the world’s youngest marathon runner in the Limca Book of Records in the year 2006.
Budhia’s father died early. Because of poverty, Budhia’s mother Sukanti Singh sold him to a traveling salesman for Rs 850 in 2004. But local judo coach and orphanage operator Biranchi Das rescued the boy and goomed him as a long-distance runner. However, Budhia lost his savior, coach and mentor, when Biranchi was killed by Raja Acharya on April 13, 2008.
In 2007, the State government adopted Budhia and made arrangement for his grooming at sports hostel at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. But from 2016 onwards, Budhia has been living with his mother and sisters in the capital city.
