TUESDAY, AUGUST 8, 2017 SPORTS India’s ‘Faith Runner’ falters on the final straight —MUMBAI: Tormented by blisters, illness through the monsoon rains without skip- metres per day is very challenging but I lentils, after every run. The five-time ultra- and injuries, Indian ultra-marathoner ping a day. He needed to clock 150km (93 wanted to show the endurance limit of marathon winner lost 16 kilos (35 pounds) Samir Singh got to within 36 kilometres of miles) on the final day on Sunday, after human spirit,” Singh told AFP ahead of during the challenge as his exertions took his goal of running 10,000km in 100 days falling behind schedule through illness. the final run. their toll. when pain and exhaustion beat him. But the 44-year-old could only complete “I have focused on my goals with deter- Singh, dubbed “The Faith Runner” and 114km, falling agonisingly short of his tar- RUNNING SORE mination and nurtured my dreams despite inevitably compared to Forrest Gump, get-which was the equivalent of about a Friends mocked the man from Madhya cracked heels, fractured joints and legs,” spent nearly three months running quarter of the Earth’s circumference. “He Pradesh state for taking on the challenge, Singh said. Singh was spotted one day by between Mumbai’s slums and business was plagued by gastro-intestinal infections but it became an attempt that caught the Mumbai documentary-makers Vandana district using donated clothes and equip- and contracted viral fever but has run public imagination. “I survived without a and Vikram Bhatti, who christened him ‘The ment, and living on just $3 a day. At the 9,964.19 kms in 100 days,” Vikram Bhatti, job for the last nine months and people Faith Runner’. end of his attempt on Sunday, the 5ft 7ins who handled Singh’s campaign, told AFP. have come forward and supported me with “We met him on the 47th day of his (170cm) running coach, who also suffered Dressed in a blue sports vest, Singh donations, shoes, clothes and equipment,” challenge and were taken aback by his stomach problems and viral fever, started each day in the early hours from Singh said. He had a GPS watch, a basic story. So, we have been running a weighed just 40 kilogrammes (88 pounds). the northern Mumbai slums and headed mobile phone for emergencies and 200 Facebook campaign to create awareness Singh started on April 29 in Mumbai’s to the business district in the city’s rupees ($3.14) a day. Singh said he particu- and generate funds for Samir,” Vandana scorching heat, and has been running south. “My journey of running 100 kilo- larly enjoyed his meal of rice and spicy Bhatti said. — AFP Samir Singh ATHLETICS Tori Bowie - from foster child to fame LONDON: Tori Bowie’s dream of one day seeing a sign in her home community saying ‘welcome to Sand Hill home to Tori Bowie’ looks almost certain to be realised after her 100m win at the world athletics championships. For the sport of athletics the 26-year-old American’s victory-courtesy of her habitual hurl- ing herself at the line which denied diminutive Ivorian Marie Josee Ta Lou the gold-will be a wel- come antidote to the largely hostile reception of her compatriot and two-time dope cheat Justin Gatlin’s win in the men’s race the night before. For Bowie-who finally tasted gold in an indi- vidual event after lesser medals in the Olympic 100 and 200m as well as the 2015 100 world SYDNEY: In this file photo dated Friday, Sept 15, 2000, the 1956 sprint champion final-it will also be a moment of glory shared Betty Cuthbert who is confined to a wheelchair with Multiple Sclerosis, waves as she with her paternal grandmother and her role is pushed by three-time silver medal winner Raelene Boyle as they carry the Olympic model, Bobbie Smith. torch during the opening ceremony of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Betty Cuthbert, But for Smith, Bowie says she and her sister the only runner to win Olympic gold medals in the 100, 200 and 400-meter sprints, Tamara-younger by just under a year-would has died in Western Australia, aged 79. — AP have been taken on by foster parents. “My moth- er dropped us off at a foster care centre when I was just two,” Bowie told NBC last year. Aussie Olympic legend “But my grandmother ended up fighting for us and winning custody of us. “We didn’t have much but she gave us character,” added Bowie, Betty Cuthbert dead who has shortened her name from the unusual Fentorish. SYDNEY: Australian Olympic icon Betty courage, but more importantly she always Cuthbert, the only athlete to ever win gold managed to smile.” ‘DON’T THINK OF BOYS’ LONDON: United States’ Tori Bowie celebrates after winning the gold medal in the Women’s in the 100m, 200m, and 400m, has died Athletics Australia president Mark Arbib Smith for her part had no hesitation in 100 meters final during the World Athletics Championships in London Sunday. — AP aged 79 after a long battle with multiple called her “inspiring”. “She is the only ath- assuming her responsibilities to her discarded sclerosis, officials said yesterday. Cuthbert lete, male or female, to win Olympic gold in grand daughters even though she had five chil- self because she has given her entire life to us,” Smith for her part is especially proud of how shot to fame as a little-known 18-year-old the 100m, 200m and 400m, with her trophy dren of her own to bring up in the tiny enclave Bowie told MSNnews.com last year. Smith, who the two girls have turned out. “It makes me at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, winning cabinet also including three medals from in Mississippi which is so small Bowie says there is still referred to as ‘Mama’ by both the sisters, think about no matter how bad things can get or the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay, earn- the Commonwealth Games,” he said. are no ‘stop lights’. She said her own grandmoth- instilled in the two girls from an early age what start in your life or be in your life, it’s still good ing her the nickname “Golden Girl” by “She will be forever remembered as a er had taken in six grandchildren, including her- their priorities should be so they could experi- things that can come out of it,” she told WBTV. local media. legend of the sport and a trailblazer for self, despite the hardship. “So I knew if she could ence a different life to the impoverished one Bowie, who is also determined to emulate her She suffered a hamstring injury at the our female athletes.” Born in Sydney, she take in six, I could take in two. That helped moti- their parents and she had done. grandmother’s example in taking disadvantaged Rome Games four years later and briefly moved to West Australia in later life after vate me and let me know I could do it,” the 70- “I encouraged them to go to school and don’t children under her wing and encouraging them retired, before being coaxed back to the being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in year-old told the Clarion-Ledger. think of boys at young age and they took my that they can succeed, is mindful of another track to win the 400m at the 1964 1969, which confined to a wheelchair. Bowie, who has done some modelling and is advice,” she said. Bowie, who says she was a piece of advice Smith gave them. Olympics in Tokyo. During her career, she She returned to the spotlight in 2000 keen to get into acting with her goal to attract tomboy in her youth going out and playing bas- “My grandmother told me a long time ago, set nine world records, four of them in when she took part in the ceremony to the attention of gospel film legend Tyler Perry, ketball with her male relations as well as going ‘I don’t care if you’re sweeping a porch for a 1958, and remains the only athlete, male light the cauldron at the Sydney Olympic says she and Tamara are eternally cognisant of shooting with them, has shown that on the track living. She said, you need to do your best.’ “So or female, to win Olympic gold in the Games. Cuthbert was an inaugural mem- their grandmother’s sacrifices. and Tamarra, whilst a talented athlete in her own I’ve lived by that every single day,” Bowie told 100m, 200m and 400m. ber of the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame “To me, it’s like she really hasn’t had a life her- right, is studying law. WBTV.— AFP Swimmer Ian Thorpe is the only and she was inducted into the IAAF Hall Australian to claim more Olympic gold of Fame in 2012. medals, with five. “Betty was the Golden “Rest in peace Betty Cuthbert-an inspi- Girl of the track and a national heroine,” ration and a champion on and off the said Australian Olympic Committee presi- track,” tweeted Prime Minister Malcolm dent John Coates. “It’s very sad to lose such Turnbull, while fellow track legend Cathy a great champion. Betty battled her illness Freeman said: “Thank you for the inspira- for many years and showed tremendous tional memories, Betty Cuthbert.” —AFP RUGBY Savea dropped from NZ’s Rugby Championship squad WELLINGTON: Blockbusting wing Julian leadership group.” Savea has been dropped from the All Blacks with a fit-again Nehe Milner-Skudder back in TRAVEL WORRIES the frame in a 33-man squad named yester- Hansen said he also had to be mindful of day for the Rugby Championship.