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Young Tamil Thalaivas raider Masanamuthu Lakshnanan has pledged to donate funds to rebuild houses in his flood-affected region of Thoothukudi in Tamil Nadu.
Lakshanan was bought for ₹31.6 lakh by the Tamil Thalaivas in the PKL auction 2023. He made his debut against Patna Pirates on December 22 in front of his home crowd at the SDAT Multi-Purpose Indoor Stadium in Chennai.
However, his parents couldn't make it to the match because their house was damaged in the aftermath of the devastating floods that rocked the peripheries of some southern India state in the last month of 2023.
Masanamuthu Lakshnanan is taking the responsibility to reconstruct his house in Thoothukudi. He said, in the presser:
"My parents are currently staying in a school in the village. The government has made temporary homes in the school for all the people, who have been affected by floods. We are going to build a hut before we can complete building the new home."
Additionally, U Mumba all-rounder Visvanth V will join Lakshnanan in donating funds for the reconstruction of all the damaged homes in their village.
"Visvanth V, who is also from Thoothukudi, and myself are going to donate funds to refurbish the homes, which were affected by the floods in our district. I am going to donate the entire amount (INR 31.6 lakh) I earned at the Pro Kabaddi League Auction last year."
Masanamuthu Lakshnanan's parents were not very keen on letting their son play Kabaddi
Masanamuthu Lakshnanan started playing kabaddi in his locality, which is the Muniyasamy Temple Street, while in sixth grade. On pursuing the sport as a professional career, the 23-year-old said:
"I moved to a different school in the 11th standard and improved my game even more with the coaches present in that school. Post my schooling, my game improved even more when I joined the Sports Authority of India in Chennai."
Lakshnanan, who currently works as a Tax Assistant in the Income Tax Department in Chennai, opened up on his parents' reluctance for opting Kabaddi as a professional path.
"My parents weren't too keen to see me become a kabaddi player because it's an injury-prone game and they half-heartedly sent me to Chennai. I moved from my village to the SAI hostel at the age of 18. I moved out of the hostel and I took a room on rent recently. ."
Masanamuthu Lakshnanan has played just three games in the Pro Kabaddi League Season 10 thus far, accounting for just one point from the seven raids he made. Tamil Thalaivas will next play Puneri Paltan at the DOME by NSCI in January in Mumbai.
