Malkangiri: He is frail looking and just six years old. However, Tanush Prasad Sethy also known as Rudra, belonging to Korukunda in Malkangiri district, is well on the way to becoming Odisha’s next Budhia Singh. Budhia burst into the limelight in 2006 and was featured in the Limca Book of Records for running 65 kilometres from Puri to Bhubaneswar. Even though Rudra has not bettered the distance there are enough indications that he may do so in the near future. Rudra is already being called Malkangiri district’s ‘Budhia’ for his ability to run long distances. He grabbed eyeballs Thursday while taking part in a mini-marathon organised by the district administration as part of ‘Malyabanta Mahotsav’. Not only did Rudra complete the race spanning 17 kilometres, but did so easily. Those who witnessed the race informed that Rudra, who is a Class-I student at Malkangiri Kendriya Vidyalaya, covered the entire distance seamlessly.
Sources close to Rudra stated that he has been running distances between five to 10 kilometres on a daily basis since he was three years old. His mentor and inspiration is his maternal grandfather D Rabindra, a former police constable and footballer. Rabindra is training Rudra with the hope that the latter one day will become a national-level marathoner. “I ran from Korukonda to Malkangiri and I was quite confident that I will be able to cover the distance. It felt good,” Rudra said after completing the race. “Someday I aspire to run 100km at a stretch, it is my dream.
However, nothing would have been possible without the guidance of my grandfather,” he added. Rabindra on the other hand is proud of his grandson’s feat. “I was confident that Rudra will finish the race. At his age, winning or losing doesn’t matter. What does is that he completed the race. His feat gives me hope that he has a great future,” Rabindra added. The former policeman however wants his grandson to get proper exposure to competitions. He knows that only participation in races will help Rudra improve. “I hope the district administration helps Rudra,” his grandfather said.