The Indian marathon prodigy Budhia Singh missing from SAI hostel in Odisha

In 2006, Budhia Singh, a 4-year old kid from Odisha, ran a marathon of 65 kilometres from Bhubaneswar to Puri in seven hours and two minutes. He had created the record of being the world’s youngest marathon runner in the Limca book of world records. Now, in 2016, the same kid has grown into a 14-year old athletic sportsperson who had been training in the Sports Authority of India (SAI) hostel based in Bhubaneswar, Odisha.

But reports in the media suggest that the little runner has not reported to the hostel since June 7, 2016, the date when he was supposed to rejoin the training facility at the end of his summer vacations as per protocol. According to the Hindu, Budhia was supposed to return to the facility on the above-mentioned date but has failed to do so. They also reported that he has also failed to report for his classes at the DAV Public School, Chandrasekharpur, where he is studying in class IX.

According to the reports in The Hindu, Budhia’s coach and in-charge of the hostel, Rupanwita Panda, said “We have sent two notices to his address. Besides, four coaches have gone to his home in Saliasahi to find out where he is, but they couldn’t.” She added “When he did not meet the date, I wrote a letter to Budhia on 23 June, asking him to return to the sports hostel within a week. As I did not get a reply of my letter which I had sent through post, I wrote another letter and sent four coaches of the Sports Hostel to hand over the letter to Budhia at Salia Sahi. But the coaches did not find Budhia in his house, while his sister informed the coaches that Budhia has gone to the village and will return within four days. But till date, he has not reported to me."

The report in The Hindu also suggests that Budhia had been sent to his home for the summer vacations on 10th May 2016 and had to return to the hostel on 7th June 2016. But after he failed to do so, the officials tried his mother’s phone number, which was switched off. Budhia’s sister said that the runner and his mother had gone to visit their maternal uncle’s house in Nayagarh district and are likely to return by 28th July, 2016.

After the reports of Budhia missing from the hostel, Sports and Youth Affairs Secretary, Saswat Mishra told reporters, "Budhia Singh's mother had yesterday told a local news channel that they are in Nayagarh. We are expecting him to return to sports hostel in two to four days."

This news comes on the back of an earlier report in April which suggested that Budhia was not happy with what he was getting at the SAI hostel and he wanted to leave. The young prodigy was said to have been very upset with authorities as he was not getting enough time to train and was forced to sprint whereas he did not want to be a sprinter. He felt that the training methods used by the coaches at the training facility were only making him a weak athlete and were not helping him in his marathon running.

Budhia had told The Indian Express in April, “All that I am getting to run in the hostel is a measly 1,500 metres. I’m being told to improve my speed by my coach, but I don’t know how far it would help me. I don’t like running sprints, but that’s what I am being asked to do. I want specialised coaching for marathon running. I believe that I’m born to run marathons. Even now, I can run for more hours without getting tired. I’m neither getting the required coaching nor the food. I get just about 3 to 4 pieces of chicken, while I was being fed more by Biranchi sir when I was four years old. I feel like I’m in a jail. I want to leave the hostel.” The report suggested that Budhia did not like the training methods one bit and this could be the reason he has left the facility.

His coach, Rupanwita Panda, had no comment to make when asked about the resentment of Budhia to the coaching methods at the facility. Earlier, Budhia’s first coach, Biranchi Das, was also in the news as it was alleged by the Child Welfare Committee, Khurda, that the coach was exploiting the small kid. A health check-up was conducted on the young runner by the police and the report was sent to the Orissa High Court. The court gave their judgement saying that the age and health of Budhia does not allow him to compete in marathons.