Laxmanan (R) and Surya Loganathan won the men’s and women’s 5,000 m gold, respectively.

It was a red-letter day for Kavinadu village in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu. Two athletes from the local sports club — G Laxmanan and Surya Loganathan won gold to register a double in the men’s and women’s 5,000 metres at the Federation Cup on Friday. Laxmanan, who trains at the Army Sports Institute in Pune, a conveyor belt of middle and long distance runners, clocked 13:58.40 to dip under the qualifying guidelines set by the Athletics Federation of India for the Asian Athletics Championships in June. But to trace Laxmanan’s story of strife and appreciate his progress, one has to go back a couple of years, before Olympian Surinder Singh took him under his wing.

The mud track, just 180 metres in length, at the Kavinadu Youth Sports Club, was Laxmanan’s training base since he turned 14.

His training partner in the formative years was Surya, daughter of the local coach, S Loganathan. Laxmanan owes his career to the coach who had a keen eye for talent and adopted him as his son after spotting his natural flair to run.

Moving out of his home and staying with the coach worked out well for everyone. Loganathan, who has no son, took a liking to Laxmanan, who had lost his dad. The family, his mother and two brothers, ploughed a small patch of paddy field to make ends meet. Loganathan, realising that Laxmanan was a rough diamond, convinced him that he had the potential to become an international athlete.

“Loganathan sir has treated me like his own son. He took care of all my training needs, including diet and kit. It has been nearly 10 years since he has adopted me and trained me,” Laxmanan, a havaldar with the Madras Regimental Centre, said.

Coaching sessions were innovative, a compulsion given that the sports club’s main facility was the mud track. To build strength and stamina, trainees at the sports club would drag tyres attached to their waist and torso with a rope over the length of the mud track. To increase the difficulty level, Loganathan would direct one of the wards to sit on the tyre while another attempted to complete a sprint with the additional weight.

As Surya and Laxmanan won gold medals within a span of half an hour at the Mangala Stadium in Mangalore early Friday morning, in Pudukkottai, Loganathan eagerly awaited the results.

“My daughter Surya and Laxmanan have trained together for so many years. I was overjoyed when I heard that they both won the gold in the 5,000 metres. Laxmanan’s qualification for the Asian Athletics Championships is the icing on the cake. Athletes from villages and smaller towns have strong work ethics because they know they have no option but to excel,” Loganathan said.

All the trainees at the sports club are from very modest backgrounds, Loganathan adds. “Turning to athletics is an escape from poverty for most of my athletes. I have dug into my savings to provide shoes and running gear for my students. But when they win gold at a national event, it feels like all the sacrifice was worth it,” Loganathan adds.

Coach Surinder believes Laxmanan has the potential to consistently clock faster times. His timing on Friday would have given him the bronze at the previous edition of the Asian Athletics Championships.

“I am hoping to win a medal at the Asian Championships. It will be a just reward for the hard work put in by my coaches,” Laxmanan said.

As for Surya, she still needs to shift up a gear or two. Her timing of 16:55.90 was outside the qualifying guidelines for the Asian championships but she hopes to get faster as the season progresses.

After the retirement of Preeja Sreedharan and the meltdown of Kavita Raut, Surya is hoping to fill the void.

Day 1: TALKING POINTS

* Three athletes met the qualifying guidelines for the Asian Athletics Championships on the first day of the Federation Cup. Those who made the cut were Laxmanan in the men’s 5,000m, Mayookha Johny in women’s long jump and Suman Devi in women’s javelin. However, none of them set a meet record or a national record.

* Suman made the most of Anu Rani’s late arrival. Rani, the Incheon Asian Games bronze medallist, thought that the start time was 6pm for the women’s javelin, an oversight because she followed a ‘probable competition schedule’ instead of an official AFI schedule. Rani reported only after the event began, but officials allowed her a single throw which she fouled and ended up with a ‘no mark’ against her name.

* The women’s pole vault and discus throw events were reduced to a farce. Only national record holder VS Surekha turned up to participate after the second participant in the entry list, Kathy S Vakharia pulled out. In the discus throw, two participants were Baljit Kaur and Priyanka JS. The former registered 45.58 m and the latter 39.15, poor considering the national record stands at 64.76.

Praful Patel became AFC VP after PFF chief Hayat withdrew.

A day after Praful Patel was elected vice-president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), a senior official of the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) claimed the All India Football Federation president had offered them playing opportunities in the Indian Super League and more fixtures in return for their support to his candidature. Patel, though, has strongly refuted the claim.

Patel was elected unopposed as AFC’s south zone vice-president during its congress in Manama, Bahrain, on Thursday after his challenger — PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat — pulled out of the race hours before voting was to take place. Later, NDTV quoted Patel as saying: “Yes, Pakistan agreed to withdraw. It was a good understanding and the decision was taken for the sake of the entire region. India will now have a bigger responsibility towards South Asia.”

But Naveed Haider Khan, the PFF marketing consultant and president of Punjab Football Association, said the decision to withdraw Pakistan’s candidature was taken after a lenghty meeting between Patel and Hayat on Wednesday, where the latter extracted favours not just from India but also other South Asian nations before withdrawing his name.

According to Khan, Patel made the offer to allow three Pakistani players to play in the ISL during the meeting, which was also attended by the heads of Bangladesh and Maldives football federations. There were also talks of a bilateral series between the two nations.

“Three Pakistan players will be inducted into the ISL next season. I reminded Mr Patel that there was also a deal for Pakistan players to be inducted into the inaugural edition of the league last season, which never happened. But he has assured me there will be opportunities for Pakistan players next season,” Khan said.

Patel, however, denied Khan’s claims. “Not at all true,” he said. When asked if any Pakistani players would feature in the ISL, he replied, “Not that I am aware of.”

Khan said Hayat struck similar deals with Bangladesh and Maldives as well. He said Pakistan have been invited by Maldives to play a tournament while Bangladesh too have offered to play friendly matches.

Five things you need to know about the fighters preparing for the bout of their life.

The fight is expected to go the distance. Floyd Mayweather has stopped only two of his 12 opponents in the last 10 years while Manny Pacquiao hasn’t knocked out anybody in the last five. 

Floyd Mayweather Jr

Stance is orthodox; at 5 ft 8 inches, FM (Jr)’s reach is 72 inches

Brilliant defensive fighter aided by his agility and athleticism in evading punches and getting off the rope; has a notoriously tough chin being never knocked out (the last and only time he was knocked down was 15 years ago) and is considered the quickest counter-puncher in the sport.

He might not throw as many punches as Manny, but is easily the defensive boxer of his generation. He employs a old fashioned technique known as the shoulder roll. The roll avoids opponents shots using the movement of his upper body and blocks using his leading shoulder. It requires a lot of skill to pull of but it leaves his fists free to counter quickly and Mayweather boasts of pinpoint accuracy in his punching.

Mayweather’s has defensive skills but he doesn’t mind getting dirty where he has to. Leaving his left elbow high,he often rushes it into an attacking opponent leaving his right hand useless. When he misses a punch, he’ll often pull down his rival’s head to avoid the counter.

Has struggled against southpaws in recent times landing fewer power punches and jabs in his last few fights; Manny can pile on the grief moving in and out, side to side that irks Money.

Will take inspiration from Pacquiao’s loss to Juan Manuel Marquez: Manny stalked Marquez – also a tough chin – in a cat-and-mouse fight but the hectic pace left the Filipino vulnerable to a straight right counter that threw Manny into the canvas.

Manny Pacquiao

Southpaw with a reach of 67 inches

Boasts of a blinding hand speed and quickness and feinting and unorthodox angles for his combinations; Rains down punches in great volume and a bulk of them connect as he collects points.

One trademark punch to watch out for is his right hook that flies over the left jab. It seems to run counter to logic. The jab puts distance between opponents while the jab needs a close in target. Pacquiao even has the disadvantage of giving several inches in reach but he manages to lean accross and back (to avoid the right cross)and land the hook.

Having risen to fame in Philippines because of attacking style when he turned pro at 17, Pacquiao, now 36, still retains the ability to trouble opponents by setting a high pace with his relentlessly offensive approach.

Has a hammer of a straight left, which he often delivers with one foot off the ground— a superman punch if you will.

Peaks in his punching flurry in Rounds 4 and 9 if stats of the last 5 fights are taken into account.

BRIDGETOWN, May 1 (Reuters) - England captain Alastair Cook steadied the tourists to 151 for four at tea on the first day of the third and final test after West Indies enjoyed early breakthroughs.

Pacquiao’s cornerman Roach (R) alleged the Mayweather camp had not submitted his gloves for testing, while Mayweather Sr. said the Filippino was ‘running scared.’

While trash-talking by the two fighters has been at a bare minimum ahead of Saturday’s welterweight showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao, their trainers engaged in a war of words on Thursday.
Pacquiao’s corner man, Freddie Roach, complained that the Mayweather camp had not yet submitted gloves for testing before his opposite number, Floyd Mayweather Sr., countered by saying that the Pacquiao camp was simply running scared.

Roach and Mayweather Sr. have got on like oil and water over the years and, hardly surprisingly, there was no eye contact between them as Roach ended his news conference and passed by Mayweather Sr. on the media centre stage at the MGM Grand. “I don’t hate Floyd Mayweather Sr, I just hate his poems,” Roach said of his fellow American, who frequently recites pithy poems about his fighters’ opponents. “But he doesn’t get under my skin.”

Roach, who declared that he and Pacquiao had developed “a winning formula” to beat Mayweather Jr., was unhappy that their opponent’s gloves had not yet been tested. “I just asked the (Nevada Athletic) Commission if both gloves will be weighed,” said Roach. “Their gloves are hand-made. I just want to make sure the weight is fair, but his gloves haven’t showed up yet.”

Mayweather Sr. scoffed when asked why his fighter’s gloves had not been submitted. “The gloves are not an issue because Manny has put on the same kind of gloves,” said the 62-year-old trainer. “Fear, that’s all it is. (The Pacquiao camp) keep talking about how scared Floyd was for five years, but they were scared. We weren’t scared.”

Mayweather Jr. will put a 47-0 professional record on the line against Pacquiao, an eight-division world champion, and his father claimed the fight was as good as over. “I don’t think it’s going to be much of a fight, the fight is already won, trust me,” he said, before adding that a knockout was on the cards. “It ain’t going to be no sucker punch. It’s going to be the real shot.”

Roach predicted that Pacquiao would win on a 12-round decision. “That’s what my game plan is,” said Roach. “If (Mayweather) stays in the pocket too long, he will get hit. If he wants to run, we will cut the ring off. I’ve been studying (Mayweather) for five years. I know a lot about him. I think we have a winning formula.”

All eyes on Bayless, judges

The third man in the ring on Saturday night has been in more big fights than Mayweather Jr. and Pacquiao put together. The three judges for the richest bout in boxing history also have made hundreds of big decisions during lengthy careers at ringside.

The Nevada Athletic Commission went with proven veterans when it assigned these four men to the highest-profile show in several years in boxing’s capital city. Kenny Bayless is the most respected referee in boxing, with two decades of title fight experience and a reputation for fairness.

The bout will be judged by three prominent names as well: Dave Moretti, Glenn Feldman and Burt Clements have all been in the business for more than 20 years, and none has a consistent history of head-scratching decisions.
Some fans and commentators have suggested Bayless’ style could favor Mayweather. And Clements once made a scoring error that cost Pacquiao a decision. But Pacquiao trainer Roach is confident the officials won’t be the story at the MGM Grand Garden. “I think we have a great referee,” Roach said. “I think we have some good judges, people that I’m familiar with my whole life. I think they’ll give us a fair call, and I trust this will happen.”

Bayless has been refereeing professional bouts in Las Vegas since 1991, rising to a long-held place among the sport’s top referees. Even in a profession that makes anyone ripe for constant second-guessing, the 64-year-old grandfather with a master’s degree in education administration from UNLV has far more admirers than detractors among fighters and trainers. “When he was learning to be a ref, I used to let him around my young fighters,” Roach said.

“He’s always been fair to me, and I expect a fair fight. I thought he was the best referee for the job.”

Bayless was in the ring for the two biggest pay-per-view cards in boxing before this bout, officiating Mayweather’s win over Oscar De La Hoya in 2007 and his victory over Canelo Alvarez in 2013. He has officiated five of Mayweather’s previous fights and seven featuring Pacquiao, who has shrugged off numerous questions about the choice in the last few days.

If Bayless has any influence on the fight, it might be in his eagerness to keep it clean. Bayless officiated Mayweather’s rematch with Marcos Maidana late last year, and some fans and commentators thought the referee stepped in too aggressively when Maidana attempted to hit Mayweather from close range. Maidana couldn’t fight on the inside as he did in their closer-than-expected first fight. Mayweather won the rematch comfortably while Bayless repeatedly broke their clinches, sometimes an instant before they began.

Pacquiao and Roach plan to throw a heavy volume of punches at Mayweather in hopes of connecting with enough of those shots to win rounds. Bayless theoretically could stop the Filipino fighter before he lands extra punches.
Yet Roach and Pacquiao have given no public credence to that theory. Pacquiao usually doesn’t like clutching and grabbing, and he uses unorthodox angles for his combinations. “We have a good referee, so don’t worry about it,” Pacquiao said. “We focus on the fight.”

(Including AP inputs)

Michael Clarke and David Warner are among those targeted by the rebel league with lucrative multi-million dollar contracts. (Source: AP)

The Intenational Cricket Council (ICC) appears to be concerned over the proposed creation of the Essel Group-financed rebel league. The executive board discussed the issue at length during its meeting last month and set up a three-member committee comprising ICC chairman N Srinivasan, the outgoing England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Giles Clarke and Cricket Australia (CA) chief Wally Edwards to launch an inquiry. The committee will report to the board once it completes its work.

“Yes, we discussed it at our board meeting and the three-member committee is looking into the issue,” Srinivasan told The Indian Express.

But does ICC see the breakaway league as a threat to the official order? “It’s too early to comment. At the moment we’ve very little information about the whole thing. We’ve to see whether this is something serious or just speculation. We’ve started the process and will report to the executive board once we get the facts,” Srinivasan said.

On Friday, Fairfax Media reported that two Australian cricketers, Michael Clarke and David Warner, have become A $50 million targets of the rebel league. It compared the venture with Kerry Packer’s creation of World Series Cricket nearly 40 years ago.

CA, however, has rejected the report as “highly speculative” with Edwards saying in a statement: “We are aware of the reports around a rebel league and they remain highly speculative, particularly given the proposed scale and complexity. Australian cricket has never been in better health. Record crowds, television audiences, grassroots participation and commercial support continue to drive record venue which means player payments have never been higher and will only increase.”

The league hopes to capitalize on the perceived dissatisfaction with the way cricket is run, about the hegemony of the big three — India, Australia and England — and how its finances doesn’t quite trickle on to the smaller cricket nations worldwide. As former world players’ union chief Tim May put it: “There is a general dissatisfaction with the game’s governance, how it’s run and the inequity of the game’s finances and there are other bodies around that would believe they can globalise the game of cricket in a more equitable fashion than the current
administration.”

The big plan

The plan proposes to include not only the existing countries but also new territories like the United States and China.
Tony Irish, the chief executive of cricketers’ union, has already spoken about how the players will always be tempted by the money. “Whether this event happens or doesn’t happen I think the boards have got to be on their toes and realise there are other markets for players and they’ve got to try and make mainstream international cricket as attractive as possible,” Irish said.

Edwards, too, admitted that formation of a breakaway league can compromise the overall health of the game.

“As it stands, Australia’s cricketers are the highest paid athletes of any team sport in the country and the earnings of our top-ranked players would already be close to the numbers referenced in today’s media reports. But our pay structure is broader than that. It’s about supporting professional cricket at both international and domestic level. The success of international cricket directly subsidises the wages of the state cricketers. Any proposed rebel league would jeopardise that,” said Edwards.

The whole thing started with the Essel Group registering companies in Australia, New Zealand and Scotland with names that are similar to cricket boards. Website domains like worldcricketcouncil.co.in and globalt20.com, too, have been launched. Then, the owner of the Essel Group, Subhash Chandra, confirmed plans to launch a new global T20 tournament with an eye on making cricket a global sport. “Essel Group has been analysing the sports market and the reports reflect an extremely positive trend,” the conglomerate said in a statement released earlier this week.
Essel Group had tried it once earlier too, launching the rebel ICL in 2007. The tournament folded in 2009 amid allegations of match-fixing and non-payment.

According to a report in The Guardian, the Essel Group had discussion with the ousted former IPL chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi over the proposed formation of the league, but the latter pulled out. Modi didn’t feel the plan was “executable”. It was reported the federation of international cricketers’ associations, which represent all players’ unions worldwide, held talks with Essel but halted the negatiotaions due to potential backlash from the ICC.
Interestingly, BCCI didn’t deliberate on the subject at its working panel meeting on April 26, the ICC tip off notwithstanding.

SRH middle order has failed to put enough runs on the board. (Source: PTI)

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s coach Tom Moody said his middle-order batsmen will have to capitalise on the early starts given by David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan to turn their fortunes in the ongoing IPL cricket tournament.

“We certainly hope that that is going to turn around. We need to complement the confidence both David (Warner) and Shikhar (Dhawan) give,” he told reporters ahead of his team’s match against Chennai Super Kings.

The Sun Risers have six points from seven matches, having won three games and the Hyderabad side will be looking for a win on Saturday to advance in the tournament.

With Sunrisers Hyderabad’s captain David Warner and star batsman Shikhar Dhawan giving impressive starts to the team, it’s the middle order which has failed to put enough runs on the board.

“We know that we need to spring a few wins,” Moody said.

Replying to a query on the batting line-up, the former Australian all-rounder said that the team is constantly looking to find the right combination that can deliver the goods in the ongoing tournament.

Observing that the team has played its home matches in Visakhapatnam so far, the coach said he is looking forward to the games in Hyderabad.

“Looking forward to playing here. Great ground and it looks like a good wicket,” he said.

The home side held a practice session under flood lights at the Rajiv Gandhi International cricket stadium here. The CSK team did not practice.