On Saturday night, yummy Sepia athlete Amir Khan destroyed his opponent David Bailey in what is being hailed as “a stunning debut to his professional career” (thanks, Ananthan). The fight lasted all of 109 seconds. You can’t beat that with a bat, Salman.

Khan floored his opponent almost as soon as the bell went and knocked him down again very quickly.

The towel appeared to come in from Bailey’s corner but the referee seemed not to notice and the fight continued.

Bailey threw a couple of punches but was caught by another fierce delivery from Khan and the referee stepped in.

A previous SM post discussed Khan’s reaction to the London bombings. His point of view seemed especially significant; like those who carried out the attacks, he is a British Muslim of Pakistani descent. Any similarities to the suspected terrorists end right there, however. Khan made his sympathies clear then (during an interview the day before his match) and at the main event itself:

Khan entered the ring to “Land of Hope and Glory” and dedicated his victory to the victims of the London bombings.

How did the teenager with the Olympic Silver Medal for Boxing feel about his debut?

“I was a bit nervous because it was my first fight – I’m going to go home and watch the video and see how it was,” said the teenager.

“I want to be one of the youngest British world champions ever and hopefully it will happen.”

Word, Amir. Show ’em how it’s done. Continue reading →

As we mentioned earlier, this weekend 94 year old marathoner Fauja Singh decided to try his hand at some shorter distances, namely the 100m, 200m, 300m, 800m, 1500m, 1 mile, 3,000m and 5,000m. How’d he do?

In the senior category, he not only set a new 200m title, but halved it from 76.8 seconds to a mere 49.28 seconds. He has also set the UK record for the 400 meters, 800m, 1 mile, and 3000m.

“He is an inspiration because he has set five UK records. He has achieved more in one day than an athlete normally does in a lifetime,” said Bridget Cushen, Secretary, British Masters Athletic Federation. If that wasn’t enough, he attempted all the records in under 94 minutes. [cite]

Unfortunately, it looks like Haraguchi’s new 100m record will stand for another day. It’s a bit much to take a distance runner and expect him to set a world record in all the shorter distances over night.

Lest you think that Fauja Singh isn’t mutinous enough, the races had an explicitly political purpose. They were called the “Turban Records,” they aimed to raise the profile of Sikhs and wearing turbans and incidentally to stick it to the French:

Fauja has … [been] chosen as the Olympic torchbearer through London …. However, Sikhs in England warn that if Paris wins the 2012 Olympic bid, stories like Fauja’s may never be told.

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“Gangster” Fauja Singh (as our much-adored Punjabi Boy dubbed him) is at it again– he’s not content with the myriad marathons under his belt, so the next item on the 94-year old rockstar’s “to do” list is some record-breaking. As in, eight of them.

…Asafa Powell might have to watch his back. The Jamaican may have the new 100m record, but Fauja’s after eight of them – in one day.

On Saturday, London’s Mile End Park Stadium will witness the great man attempting to set world bests for men over 90 in the 100m, 200m, 300m, 800m, 1500m, 1 mile, 3,000m and 5,000m.

The action starts at 10:30BST with proceeds going to charity and the event is in support of the London 2012 Olympic bid.

The Adidas poster boy swears by a regimen of daily training (eight-miles!), smiling, not smoking, avoiding glassy junction and lots of ginger curry. Wonder if that last item meets Manish’s stringent definitions for such a dish? Ofo, Vij-ji…if anyone merits an exception, it’s Fauja Singh. 😉

Nothing stokes public excitement like “beef”. Prepare the vats of ginger curry! Let’s get rrrrready to rrrrumble! :

coach Harminder Singh is trying to set up a showdown between Fauja and Japan’s Kozo Haraguchi – the new 100m world record holder for the 95-99 age group.

Haraguchi is hard-core…but I think our man Fauja can take him. 😀

The BBC article I linked to asked when our running man might hang up his kicks; I totally dig his answer.

“When I die!” he laughs.

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Fauja Singh is a stud. The man is 94 and he just finished yet another marathon, this time in Edinburgh. There he led a team (named “Sikhs in the City”) of five Sikh runners with a combined age of 397 years between them. Said Fauja Singh:

I hope we will inspire young people to keep going and older people never to give up [cite]

If this is the first time you’re hearing about Fauja Singh, here’s the (very) skinny:

• He rediscovered running at age 81 (because he was bored sitting around his son’s house) and ran his first marathon at 89.
• The next year he set a world record for 90 year-olds
• He has been getting faster as he has gotten older!
• He’s a poster boy for Adidas (like David Beckham) and he gave a large chunk of the money to charity
• He’s a vegetarian, and has been in a PETA ad

Honestly, I’m amazed that he ran even one more race. My father met him recently, and from their conversation I had gotten the impression that Fauja Singh was considering hanging up his sneakers and calling it a day. If he had been thinking about retirement, it looks like the idea suited him around as well as it did Michael Jordan. I’m pretty selfish about this – I hope he stays healthy and competes for years to come. I need all the inspiration I can get.

Story via DNSI. Thanks to SM reader dot for the tip!

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Conventional wisdom says that NYC isn’t going to succeed in its bid to land the 2012 Olympic Games. The world hates Americans too much to award them such an honor. Therefore, our fine Parisian friends are the supposed frontrunners. All of a sudden the Frenchies have problems as well it seems. The Guardian reports:

Sikh leaders in Britain have written to all 117 International Olympic Committee members urging them not to vote for the favourites Paris when they meet to elect a host city to stage the 2012 games next month.

They claim that the controversial French law banning the Sikh dastar (turban) along with other religious articles of faith in schools is discriminatory and that Paris does not deserve to be awarded the Olympics.

“We publicly stated that, if the law in France was implemented to deny Sikh children the right to wear the turban, we would have little choice but to lobby against the Paris bid for 2012,” wrote the Sikh Federation of UK chairman Amrik Singh in a letter to each of the IOC members.

The New York Times today chimes in with its humorous headline, “Poll Finds Support for Paris Games in 2012 (Margin of Error, 100 Percent):”

On Sunday, French voters will participate in a referendum on whether to ratify a new European constitution. Polls indicate that they will reject the constitutional treaty, and Lamour said yesterday that the result would have no bearing on Paris’s Olympics bid. “A negative vote will not have any impact on our ability to organize the Games,” he said.

Opposition in France to the charter for the European Union seems based, to a large extent, on the fear of or the resistance to an expansion of Europe, and a potential loss of jobs. Such an opening up is precisely what the Olympic Games are: an opening up to the world. If a country is afraid to open up, how can it hold the Olympics?

“It’s a paradox,” Lamour said. “We want the Games, but we say no to Europe.”

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