I hate running.  I ran yesterday and my knees are pissed at me today.  I only run if I have to in order to quickly get in shape for something.  A high-altitude hike in two weeks unfortunately qualifies.  I have just never been able to develop that “runner’s high” that so many people get.  Although I love physical challenges of any kind, a marathon is out of the question.  After reading this article in the BBC I hang my head in shame:

He runs seven hours at a stretch, sometimes as much as 48km (30 miles). On a daily basis.

And Budhia Singh is just three and a half years old.

When Budhia’s father died a year ago, his mother, who washes dishes in Bhubaneswar, capital of the eastern Indian state of Orissa, was unable to provide for her four children.

She sold Budhia to a man for 800 rupees ($20).

But the young boy came to the attention of Biranchi Das, a judo coach and the secretary of the local judo association.

Mr Das said he noticed Budhia’s talent when scolding him for being a bully.

“Once, after he had done some mischief, I asked him to keep running till I came back,” Mr Das told the BBC.

“I got busy in some work. When I came back after five hours, I was stunned to find him still running.”

I think if they send him to Kenya to train for a few years Budhia could be a serious contender.  The kid is a beast.  His hobbies include eating an running.

Budhia is enjoying his stay at the judo hostel. “I can run and eat to my heart’s content here,” he says.

I hope they don’t end up taking advantage of his talents though.  It would be a shame if Budhia burns out before his time.

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As of 1 pm ET, this is the lead story on the U.S. Open’s home page (thanks, Sania spazz):

7-6, 6-4: she rides lions, not wings. It’s the furthest Mirza has come in any major tournament to date. Congrats! She’ll face her most difficult test yet in the next round, Maria Sharapova. I nominate myself for the après tennis

The Beeb has the play-by-play. For snarky commentary, we turn to the ToI:

Eighteen companies offered her sponsorship deals worth one million pounds in the span of a week, when she was still ranked No 134… As one leading sports journalist pointed: “Sania Mirza’s serve won’t win any awards for design, and her toss is so high you can have a cigarette waiting for it to come down. She is a few biryanis heavier that an elite athlete can afford to be, and her acceleration on court is more Ford than Ferrari… But no big deal; this you can teach an 18-year-old. What you can’t is chutzpah, and toughness, and Sania Mirza has both.” [Link]

One expert’s prophetic guess:

Mirza goes for forehand winners like an alley cat to a wounded mouse… It’s all power, all the time… Both serve well, but Mirza still needs to improve her conditioning… just the chance of getting a shot at Maria Sharapova in the next round is enough to fire up these two to go to the wall in an attempt to win this contest and get to play on a show court against the blonde princess. Mirza wants it more… [Link]

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Watch Sania Mirza play with her hair and handle her bidness in front of the press at the U.S. Open (thanks, Nilesh). Doña Quixote turns inane lobs into backhanded sports clichés, just like American jocks but with considerably more fluency. What is it with desis and references to the middle finger?

The press is turning Mirza into a latter-day Cool Runnings, but Indians already know all about vicious serves and over-the-line returns. Just eavesdrop at a party on Malabar Hill.

Speaking of nose rings, the press has a new obsession:

The diamond-studded nose ring protruding from her left nostril is the first giveaway that Sania Mirza is not your typical teenage prodigy shooting up the rankings. [Link]

Sania Mirza has punishing groundstrokes, a pierced nose and burgeoning celebrity in her native India. [Link]

Mirza and her doubles partner Bryanne Stewart dropped their match on Thursday, but both Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi advanced in mixed doubles. Mirza’s third-round match starts at 11 am ET today.

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18-year-old tennis terror Sania Mirza just beat her second-round U.S. Open opponent, Italian Maria Elena Camerin, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 (thanks, Sania Fan). Her next draw is 21-year-old Marion Bartoli of France (via desiFans). Mirza won her first round against Mashona Washington of Houston.

The 18-year-old from Hyderabad defeated Italy’s Elena Camerin 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in a roller-coaster of a match and with France’s Marion Bartoli to follow, she will harbour genuine hopes of reaching the last 16 and a likely encounter with top seed Maria Sharapova.

But she will need to fully recover physically from what was a punishing second round tie if is she is to better her breakthrough third round performance at this year’s Australian Open where she eventually lost to Serena Williams. [Link]

Now ranked 42nd in the world, Mirza is the first Indian woman to win a match at the U.S. Open. She’s got lots of power, but in her last two matches committed plenty of worrisome unforced errors.

The doubles events have produced some interesting desi pairings:

Injuries notwithstanding, Sania Mirza has opted to play in the women’s doubles, partnering Australia’s Bryanne Stewart, at the US Open… Sania has a strained abdominal muscle and is also troubled by bleeding toes…

In the mixed doubles, Leander Paes joins hands with Martina Navratilova, in what could be the 48-year-old legend’s last US Open. Paes and Martina [are] seeded seventh… Mahesh Bhupathi will pair up with Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova…

Paes and Bhupathi are playing with their regular partners Nenad Zemonjic of Serbia and Montenegro and Martin Damm of the Czech Republic respectively in the men’s doubles. [Link]

Desis seem to like sports played on lush pitches involving hitting balls with sticks at high speed. Arjun Atwal is the first Indian golfer in the PGA Championships (thanks, Vikram):

India’s Arjun Atwal will become the first Indian to compete in the US PGA Championships, traditionally the year’s fourth and final golf Major, when he tees up at the Lower course at Balsturol Golf Club on Thursday… Atwal… would be playing in his first Major of the season and the second of his career…

Other Indians to have played the Majors are Jyoti Randhawa, three times at the British Open, Gaurav Ghei once at British Open and Jeev Milkha Singh, once at the US Open… Indo-Swede Daniel Chopra played and made the cut at the British Open last month. [Link]

The way he got there makes the word ‘wildcard’ seem inadequate:

… Atwal and his bride Ritika headed back to their home in Orlando, Fla. Thusly relocated, Atwal was nearby and available when the Bell South Classic called to say it had an opening for him because torrential rains in Georgia had caused so many players to withdraw that they were down to him, the 23rd alternate. [Link]

Yet he seized his lucky break and did wonders with it:

All Atwal did was make it into a five-man playoff. Phil Mickelson won it. But at the age of 32, Atwal had the best finish of his fledgling PGA career… He has made the cut in all 12 PGA events he has entered, finishing in the top 10 three times.. Atwal has made $802,881 this year… [Link]

Atwal has a typically peripatetic history:

… Atwal took up golf at the age of fourteen, playing at the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (which was founded in 1829 and is one of the oldest golf clubs outside the United Kingdom). He also spent two years at school in the United States. [Link]

Not that he ever dwelled upon the uniqueness of his background – from learning the game on the 175-year-old Royal Calcutta links to moving to Long Island at age 15 to be with his brother, Govind, who had a hearing impairment and was sent to the United States for educational reasons. [Link]

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Knowing that I am a lifelong die-hard 49ers fan, my friend Sandeep S. tips me off about the ambitious young Paraag Marathe. Who is he and how did he end up in the 9ers front office at the age of 28? The San Francisco Chronicle reports:

Anyone following the 49ers’ upheaval the last month [NSFW] ran across the name of Paraag Marathe. The assistant to the general manager’s rapid ascension within the 49ers caught the notice of the rest of the league during the team’s recent shakeup.

Who is this 28-year-old whiz kid? How did this man with an MBA from Stanford with little grounding in football become one of four people choosing the 49ers’ next coach and establishing the direction of an organization adrift? Because nobody knew the answers to these questions, Marathe became a lightning rod for the general dismay with the organization among columnists, radio talk-show hosts and even the NFL set, who openly wondered what he was doing in the team’s brain trust.

Marathe (pronounced mah-RAH-tay) became the unwitting victim of what many perceived as co-owner John York’s NFL ignorance. It’s a fact this business consultant from San Jose, via Cal and Stanford, impressed York after then- general manager Terry Donahue brought him in and was a big influence on the coaching search. But he is not expected to play a major role, as yet, in the organization.

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