14 Friday 12th March, 2010

by Jamie AeronARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Manny

Pacquaio arrived at Cowboys Stadiumon Wednesday in a bus covered with hislikeness, the seats filled with members ofhis entourage.

He walked into the formal part ofhis appearance wearing a straw hat anda dark blazer. He quickly swapped thesports coat for a red jacket featuring hisMP logo in golden thread.

He talked about his upcoming elec-tion for Congress in his homeland, thePhilippines.

He talked about singing - rehearsingwith his band the night before, withanother session later Wednesday night,all in preparation for a performance atthe after-party following his fightSaturday night.

Oh, yeah. The fight.Billed as “The Event,” Pacquiao is

facing Joshua Clottey on Saturday nightin boxing’s debut at the $1.2 billionCowboys Stadium.

It’s an intriguing matchup perfectfor a football stadium - Pacquiao’s furi-ous offense against Clottey’s dedicationto defense - and it’ll look amazing ongiant video boards towering over the

ring.A sellout crowd of 45,000 is expected,

with the attendance possibly soaring ifCowboys owner Jerry Jones decides tosell standing-room-only tickets. And, ofcourse, there’s the pay-per-view audi-ence that promoter Bob Arum said islikely to top the hoped-for total of700,000.

Put the pieces together, and it allmakes perfect sense: The WBO welter-weight champion - already consideredthe best fighter in the world, pound forpound - is treating this entire week asone big performance, especially if hewins that election and decides to devotemore time to politics than pugilism.

“I’m inspired to give a good show, todo my best,” Pacquiao said, smiling. “Toimpress the people, you have to makeyour best (effort).”

Then trainer Freddie Roach jumpedin, cranking up the hype.

“There’s no stage big enough forManny Pacquiao,” Roach said. “He lovesit, and I love it. He’s going to perform forthe crowd. He’ll entertain all 45,000. He’llentertain everybody.”

Roach said the adrenaline surgethat’s going to come from walking into

the ring in these surroundings alreadyhas been factored into the game plan.That likely means even more punchesfrom Pacquiao (50-3-2), who is alreadyknown for throwing plenty.

Then again, Clottey (35-3) is knownfor blocking punches. The 32-year-oldGhana native also has never beenknocked out - he’s been knocked downonly once.

“Blocking punches doesn’t winfights,” Roach said. “I think we can stophim in the late rounds. The accumula-tion of punches he’ll be taking in thisfight he’s never seen before. ... I don’tthink he’ll be able to handle it.”

Clottey is taller and with a longerreach. He’s never been stopped cold, withhis few losses including a disqualifica-tion in 1999 and a split decision to MiguelCotto in his last bout, in June.

Clottey was given this opportunityagainst Pacquiao when the proposedmegafight with Floyd Mayweather Jr.fell through. He’s very appreciative forthis opportunity and has nothing butnice things to say about Pacquiao.

It’s Roach who rankles him, from thepredicted result to talk of a head buttbeing one of Clottey’s best punches.

Pacquiao calm, confidentfor fight vs. Clottey

Boxers Manny Pacquiao, second from left, and Joshua Clottey, second from right, smile while flanked by cheerleaders aftera news conference at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas, Wednesday, March 10, 2010. Pacquiao and Clottey square off ina welterweight bout at the stadium this Saturday. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

CHITTAGONG, Bangladesh (AP) -England captain Alastair Cook haswarned his players about the threatposed by Bangladesh’s spinners inthe first Test starting Friday.

The first of the two-test serieswill be held in Chittagong’s ZohurAhmed Chowdhury Stadium.England is the only Test-playingnation never to lose to Bangladeshin any form of the game.

The hosts go into the Test aftersweeping the three-match one-dayinternational series 3-0.

“Their spinners will be a hugethreat and for us to take them light-ly would be a cardinal sin,” Cooktold reporters after a practice ses-

sion in this southeastern port cityof Chittagong on Thursday.

“We all know spin is importantin the subcontinent,” said Cook,standing in for Andrew Strauss whohas been rested for the Bangladeshtour.

Bangladesh has three experi-enced left-arm spinners in its squad,while England is expected to includetwo off-spinners, Graeme Swannand uncapped James Tredwell.Their role has become even moreimportant due to an injury-strickenpace attack.

Ryan Sidebottom has flown backhome due to a thigh injury, and fel-low seamer Graham Onions has

been ruled out for the Test seriesbecause of a back injury.

England is hoping that StuartBroad, struggling with a backspasm, will pass a fitness test beforethe match. He bowled 10 overs dur-ing a practice session Wednesdaywithout feeling any discomfort.

Bangladesh suffered a jolt whenbatsman Rakibul Hasan announceda surprise decision to retire from allforms of the game and pulled out ofthe Test series.

Hasan, who scored a century anda fifty in the warm-up matchagainst England to force an inclu-sion in the team, resigned lateWednesday citing personal reasons.

England concerned by Bangladesh spinners

Tiger Woods is also sharing it with arookie. Billed as an advertisement ofthe game’s Ryder Cup features, sometake the pairing with Rory McIlroy asmore fallout from Tiger’s inability toabstain from sex with women notnamed Mrs. Woods.

An EA Sports news releasedescribed the new cover but, under-standably, said nothing about his mari-tal infidelity scandal - which has sentWoods to rehab, indefinitely delayed hisreturn to the PGA Tour, and sent big-name sponsors running for the hills, EAnot among them.

Instead, the statement focused onthe inclusion of Ryder Cup play, allow-

ing players to choose from U.S. orEuropean teams andparticipate in thet o u r n a m e n t ’ svarying competi-tion formats. As forthe cover, “TigerWoods denotes theU.S. team and RoryMcIlroy represents theEuropeans.” And he’s aperfectly good choice.

McIlroy, 20, ofNorthern Ireland, is tech-nically a rookie, though heis regarded as the future ofthe game, is ranked ninth in

the world, and Woods has saidvery complimentary things ofhim. Some might think this is aprudent time for EA Sports tobegin preparing for life afterTiger.

But golf legends’ names -Palmer, Nicklaus, et al. - faroutlive their competitiveprime and besides, EA’s hadno problem publishing agame by the name ofMadden, without his faceon the cover since 1998.Then, as the NCAA

Tournament begins next week,take note of how many ads will feature

any of Woods’ four victories. Granted,he’s not even a confirmed participant.But nor is his absence confirmed, andmarketers are definitely minimizingconnections to him.

Back to the game. Tiger Woods PGATour 11 will feature an intriguingonline team play mode accommodatingup to 24 players, with teammates capa-ble of communicating strategy with oneanother between shots (on Xbox 360 andPS3 versions.) A slew of other capabili-ties and features have been mentionedin this posting on the game’s officialblog. The game is out June 8.

(kotaku.com)

Tiger Woods to share cover of Tiger Woods game

by Ravi Nagahawatte

Sri Lanka accepting the invitationto contest the Commonwealth Gamesrugby test event in New Delhi hasgiven rise to the question whetherthe islanders have sized up the chal-lenge before them?

India takes its sports assignmentsvery seriously and it’s speculatedthat the upcoming rugby sevens tour-nament, in New Delhi, will attractthe best of Asia’s sevens teamswhich will be at full strength.

The official websites for Indianrugby (Rugby India) and AsianRugby Football Union, till yesterday,didn’t have any details of the teamscontesting the sevens tournamentwhich is a prelude to theCommonwealth Games, which willbe hosted by India in October thisyear. This begs the question whetherthe Sri Lankan rugby authorities didthe wise thing by picking their under22 squad for the tournament whenthe line-up of teams at the tourna-ment isn’t known yet?

From what the National SelectionChairman Ajith Abeyrate told thisnewspaper, on Wednesday, Sri Lankahas decided to give the rugby playerswho did national duty at the YouthAsian Championships in 2008 and2009 foreign exposure. This is a com-mendable move, given the fact thatSri Lanka has no plan or policy tocater to the interest of players whowish to continue rugby after success-ful seasons with their respective aca-demic institutions.

But rugby critics point outwhether this is the ideal occasion toexperiment with young ‘blood’ whena tournament in the caliber of a fore-runner to the Commonwealth Gamesdemands the services of the coun-try’s best players?

Most of the players named in thesquad have potential, but have noworthwhile credentials as exponentsof the shorter version of rugbyunion.

Sri Lanka needs to beef this NewDelhi bound squad with players likeRadeeka Hettiarachchi, PradeepLiyanage, Saliya Kumara, ChamaraVithanage and Saliya Handapangodawho are some of our sevens regulars,are not serving bans. The best play-ers will be out for one more year fol-lowing a decision take by the RugbyInterim Committee to ban them forrefusing to represent Sri Lanka atthe Asian Five Nations following adispute regarding the captaincy.

The present Sri Lanka nationalteam has four talented schoolboys,but then again it would be veryunlikely that their school coacheswould release them with the highlycompetitive school season just weeksaway from kicking off.

The national team to India will behandled by Nilufer Ibrahim whowould wish to see more sevens regu-lars in the side. The general thoughtin the rugby fraternity is that thesquad be expanded to allow playerswho are under 24 to be picked.

Abeyratne said that the sectorshad plans to add muscle to the squadby bringing in more three quarters.This is a must given the fact that thethree quarters, already in the squad,are more accustomed with the fif-teen-a-side version of rugby.

From the little information avail-able to us, about how Asian teamshave prepared at rugby recently,India has stood out having touredFiji for a recent sevens tournamentand having made plans to take wingto New Zealand to under-go specialtraining in sevens rugby, for theCommonwealth Games. The Indiansare coached at present by FijianUsaia Biumaiwa who has been withRugby India since 2007.

The New Delhi sevens could pro-vide Sri Lankans with the ideal plat-form to elevate their rugby which isin dire straights at the moment interms of performances at interna-tional tournaments.

Preparing for arugby battle withoutknowing the ‘enemy’

West IndiesC Gayle st Taibu b Utseya 33A Barath c Maruma b Utseya 35S Chanderpaul run out (Utseya) 58D Ramdin c Utseya b Maruma 19N Deonarine c Chigumbura b Lamb 21D Bravo c Matsikenyeri b Chi’bura 24K Pollard st Taibu b Cremer 17D Sammy not out 7R Rampaul run out 14N Miller b Chigumbura 0K Roach not out 2Extras: (7lb, 8w) 15TOTAL: (for 9 wickets) 245Overs: 50Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-86, 3-151, 4-151, 5-195, 6-207, 7-225, 8-242, 9-243Bowling: Chigumbura 9-1-43-2 (3w),Price10-1-42-0, Lamb 10-0-44-1 (4w), Utseya 10-0-47-2, Cremer 7-0-43-1, Maruma 4-0-19-1(1w)Zimbabwe V Sibanda b Roach 0H Masakadza c Ramdin b Sammy 35B Taylor c and b Sammy 19T Taibu c Ramdin b Sammy 1S Matsikenyeri lbw b Bravo 0G Lamb c Gayle b Roach 7E Chigumbura lbw b Roach 10T Maruma b Sammy 2G Cremer c Miller b Bravo 6P Utseya not out 13R Price c Gayle b Miller 4Extras: (1lb, 4w, 2nb) 7TOTAL: (all out) 104Overs: 31.5Fall of wickets: 1-0, 2-51, 3-57, 4-58, 5-58, 6-72, 7-75, 8-80, 9-96, 10-104Bowling: Roach 9-0-28-3 (2nb, 1w),Rampaul 4-0-23-0 (1w), Bravo 7-0-23-2 (2w),Sammy 10-1-26-4, Miller 1.5-0-3-1.Result: West Indies won by 141 runs (leadsseries 2-1)Toss: ZimbabweUmpires: Norman Malcolm, (WI) and SimonTaufel (AUS)TV umpire: Clancy Mack (WI)Match Referee: Roshan Mahanama (SL)

Windies beatZimbabweby 141 runs

SCOREBOARD

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent(AP) - West Indies beat Zimbabweby 141

runs in the third one-day cricketinternational at Arnos Vale SportsComplex on Wednesday to lead thefive-match series 2-1.

West Indies totaled 249-5 off its50 overs then dismissed Zimbabwefor 104 in the 32nd, with DarrenSammy taking 4-26.

The fourth match is on Fridayat the same ground.

England’s cap-tain AlastairCook catchesballs during apractice ses-sion ahead oftheir first Testcricket matchagainstBangladesh inChittagong,Bangladesh,Thursday,March 11, 2010.(AP Photo/AijazRahi)

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