20 km turns cake-walk for 5-yr kid - Deccan Herald - Internet Edition

20 km turns cake-walk for 5-yr kid - Deccan Herald - Internet Edition





20 km turns cake-walk for 5-yr kid

Madurai, UNI:

``She has never shown a sign of fatigue. The medical reports never showed any adverse aspect,'' says Sundaramurthy, Sivasree’s father



For five-year-old Sivasree, it has become a part of her daily routine to run eight km every morning. Infact in an attempt to enter the Guinness records, she has recently covered a distance of 29.4 km non-stop.

She begins her regular jogging from her residence at Villapuram and ends at Teppakulam, the temple tank close to the Vaigai river bank. “It all started on August last when I asked her to run to a nearby relative’s house, about one km away,” recalled her father Sundaramurthy, who used to accompany his daughter in her daily-run. “Realising her potential, I encouraged her and within a fortnight she was able to run up to 8.7 km and by two months, she could run 20 km in 2.10 hrs,” he added.

But for the father and the child, the sail to glory was not so easy. A few hurdles hindered their smooth cruise. Criticism erupted galore from every corner that the child was being forced to perform high physical task at a young age. Sports administrators too raised apprehensions. Initially, the police denied permission to hold the event for the Guinness record on the ground that it would be in violation of child rights. But with Madurai Bench of Madras High Court granting permission to hold the event, Mr Sundaramurthy was a much relieved man. A former state Kho Kho player and presently a coach, training both girls and boys in Kho Kho and Table Tennis, Mr Sundaramurthy said he was very much determined to make his daughter achieve what he could not in sports. “She has never shown a sign of fatigue. The medical reports on my child’s health never showed any adverse aspect. She is provided a diet, recommended by the doctors of a corporate hospital here,” he said.


Besides skipping, Sivasree is interested in swimming and cycling. Recently, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi had directed the District Collector to bring her to Chennai at the earliest.

Assistance

“Our family is happy for the Chief Minister’s assurance that the government will provide necessary assistance to the child.”

Undeterred by the controversy generated by Buddhia Singh of Orissa, the 35-year-old Sundaramurthy, running his own screen-printing business, expressed his dream of making his daughter win an Olympic gold for the country.