Boy banned from marathons

New Delhi (AFP) A four-year-old Indian child who ran 65 kilometres in seven hours last week was yesterday banned by worried welfare officials from running marathons.

The child welfare department of the eastern state of Orissa announced the ban following a medical report that Budhia Singh was "undernourished, anaemic and under cardiological stress".

"He will not be allowed to run long distance till all tests are completed," child welfare officer R.S. Mishra told reporters in the state capital of Bhubaneswar.

Mishra added that medical tests showed Budhia was not yet five years old, as suggested by his coach Biranchi Das last Tuesday when the child ran from the holy town of Puri to Bhubaneswar in stifling hot weather.

Budhia, watched over by his coach, paramilitary forces and TV crews and trailed by army doctors and an ambulance, collapsed two kilometres short of the finish line the headquarters of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Bhubaneswar and was taken to hospital.

Budhia, almost a real life version of the fictitious Forrest Gump, and his coach found immediate fame but human rights activists attacked the state government for risking the boy's life.

Coach Das said the ban was a conspiracy to take the limelight away from the child's achievements.

"This ban will kill Budhia because he loves to run," said Das.