Thalaivas raider Masanamuthu looks forward to ‘home’ debut

CHENNAI: Rookie raider Masanamuthu of Tamil Thalaivas can’t wait to get on the mat to show his raiding prowess in front of a passionate home crowd when the Pro Kabaddi League caravan arrives in the city on Friday.

The native of Thoothukudi is familiar with the ambience of the Thalaivas home stadium having trained there for nearly six years.

“I have many friends and well-wishers here who have been a source of great encouragement. I’m feeling extremely happy that Thalaivas are back playing at home after four years and I’m looking forward to the crowd cheering lustily for us,” says Masanamuthu.

Asked to rate his team’s prospects, Masanamuthu reposed faith in the side’s ability to better last season’s achievement of reaching its maiden semi-final. “We are blessed with a nice blend of youth and experience and are quietly confident that we would make it to the final. Last year even after losing our main raider Pawan (Sehrawat) in the very first game, we were able to pick up steam as the season progressed and reached our first semis,” reflects Masanamuthu.

The young raider has no hesitation in giving the entire credit to seasoned coach Ashan Kumar for sparking a remarkable turnaround.

“Ashan sir is an excellent motivator. When a player is low on confidence, he knows what to say to perk him up. Having been involved in the game for so many years, he is a master at devising strategy. Even in last year’s semi-final, we lost by two points against a strong opponent such as Puneri Paltan despite some of our key players being unavailable because of injury. We have the confidence that we can do well this time,” adds Masanamuthu.

Asked how he copes with the language barrier when conversing with his team-mates and coach, Masanamuthu, who is proficient in Tamil, explains he converses with them in English and is picking up Hindi fast.

Ask him about his favourite raiders and he is quick to name Thalaivas former captain and India World Cup winner Ajay Thakur, followed by state-mate Chandran Ranjit and Naveen Kumar of Dabang Delhi. “Right from a young age I’ve looked up to Ajay (Thakur) and I had the good fortune of interacting with him. Both Ajay and Chandran offered words of encouragement besides telling me to put in the hard yards and strive relentlessly to attain my goals,” says Masanamuthu who grew fascinated with the sport in his sixth standard.

Although keen to get on the mat, Masanamuthu knows he will have to bide his time a little longer and has no complaints about warming the bench. “We have senior and experienced raiders in (Ajinkya) Pawar, Himanshu and Narender who have done exceedingly well last year. All I can do is keep training hard and be ready for my turn whenever it comes,” signs off Masanamuthu.