Mayweather and Pacquiao promise to deliver on hype

May 2, 2015

Las Vegas, May 2: Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao weighed in for what has been labelled the 'Fight of the Century' on Friday, promising to deliver on the massive hype and give fans the excitement they deserve.

Pacquiao

What had been a subdued buildup to the most anticipated fight in decades exploded to life when Pacquiao and then Mayweather entered the MGM Grand Garden Arena to thumping hip hop music and deafening cheers from a seething crowd of 11,500, some of whom had waited three hours for a glimpse of the two boxers.

Pacquiao, 57-5-2 (38 knockouts) looking relaxed and confident, weighed in one pound lighter than the undefeated Mayweather 47-0 (26 KOs), tipping the scales at 145 pounds for Saturday's bout.

Their meeting is expected to be the biggest grossing prize fight of all-time.

"I have dedicated myself to the sport of boxing for the last 20 years and I am ready," declared Mayweather over a roar of boos and cheers.

Asked for a prediction about the fight, the 38-year-old American said, "I can't really say but I am ready to fight. It's an unbelievable turnout. I'm glad all the fans came out to here to support Manny and me."

Normally free and open to the public, the weigh-in broke from tradition, charging $10 to watch Mayweather and Pacquiao step onto the scales in a move designed to maintain crowd control.

All money raised through ticket sales went to charity, but many of the tickets found their way onto the resale market with some commanding $500.

A smiling Pacquiao, dressed in a bright red track suit, waved and raised his fists into the air as he slowly made his way to the stage, playfully interacting with the crowd.

In stark contrast, Mayweather was serious and focused, rarely looking up from under the brim of his 'Money Team' baseball cap to reveal a cheeky smirk.

Once the business of the official weigh-in was complete, the two welterweights moved to the front of the stage for the traditional stare down, the smaller Pacquiao looking up at Mayweather with a challenging smile while the stone-faced American stared straight-ahead unmoved.

"I have been fighting bigger guys like (Antonio) Margarito and (Oscar) De La Hoya," said the Filipino southpaw. "It doesn't matter to me. I feel tomorrow that the Lord is always with me and gives me strength.

"I know it's a great, great responsibility for me to give enjoyment to the fans.

"Tomorrow the fans deserve to have a great fight."

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who features in the list of A category players released by BCCI, has revealed his first-ever paycheck.

Bhuvneshwar was participating in a question and answer session on Twitter where he gave his take on fans' queries.

The 30-year-old bowler was asked about his first paycheck by a fan and Bhuvneshwar responded by saying, "It was for Rs 3000. I shopped and still managed to saved some."

During the question and answer session Bhuvneshwar picked Barcelona striker Lionel Messi over Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The right-arm bowler also revealed that football and badminton are his favourite sports other than cricket.

Earlier this year, Bhuvneshwar was named in the list A category of players. BCCI had released the list of centrally contracted players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020. Annually, A category players get Rs 5 crore.

The right-arm bowler would have been in action for Sunrisers Hyderabad if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
June 13,2020

Melbourne, Jun 13: Former Australia wicketkeeper-batsman Adam Gilchrist and current opener David Warner have expressed gratitude to two Indian students for helping people in the country during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gilchrist thanked Sharon Varghese, an Indian student who did her Bachelors in Nursing from the University of Wollongong.

Varghese has been was working on the frontline along with other health care workers to look after the residents of aged-care during the global health crisis.

"She gave up her time to work as an aged-care worker throughout that time. Sharon, I want to say congratulations on the selfless act and for wanting to thank people in Australia because you have enjoyed three and a half years living here. And that’s wonderful to hear," Gilchrist said in a video message.

"Just want to let you know, all of Australia, all of India and more importantly, your family will be so very proud of your efforts."

In another short video, Warner thanked Queensland-based Indian student, Shreyas Sheth.

"Namaste. I am here to say thank you to Shreyas Sheth who is doing selfless work to help others during the COVID crisis. Shreyas is doing his Masters in Computer Science at the University of Queensland and he has been part of University’s outreach program, preparing and delivering food packets to students in need right now," Warner said in the video.

"So I just want to say ‘good on ya’. I am sure your mum and dad and India are proud of you. Keep up the great work."

The videos were shared by Austrade India official twitter account, which have hit almost 10 thousand views in last one week.

Apart from the two cricketers, another Social Media Influencer Amy Aela also sent her thank you note to Liya, an Indian student from Griffith university for her work in providing mental health support to communities in Australia during the pandemic.

"Liya I just want to thank you...we definately need more people like you...just remember that Australia is so so proud of you, India is proud of you..please keep up the good work," Aela said.

Former Australian footballer Craig Foster also sent his thank you message to another Indian origin nurse Arushi from Deakin University. More than 100,000 Indian students are studying in Australia, currently making them one of the biggest cohorts of international students in the country.

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