Allgemein » ancement, it would be hypocritical. Firstly

Serbia and Croatia are Brazil bound. France or Canada will get the only Olympic basketball spot left.Serbia emphatically claimed its first Olympic appearance as an independent country Saturday, crushing Puerto Rico 108-77 in the championship game of the Olympic Qualifying Tournament it hosted in Belgrade. Bogdan Bogdanovic had 26 points and eight assists, while tournament MVP Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets added 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists.Part of an international basketball power in the former Yugoslavia, Serbia made the Olympics for the first time since it became an independent nation in 2006. It appeared two years earlier as Serbia and Montenegro.Serbia beat Puerto Rico by just six points earlier this week in group play but left no doubt this one wouldnt be close. The Serbians raced to a 24-3 lead and were ahead 37-11 after one quarter, extended it to 60-27 at halftime, and shot 58.7 percent for the game.Croatia had a much tougher time, outlasting Italy 84-78 in overtime in Turin, Italy. Bojan Bogdanovic of the Brooklyn Nets scored 26 points, former Philadelphia 76ers lottery pick Dario Saric added 18 points and 13 rebounds, and the Croatians qualified for the Olympics for the first time since 2008.The other final is Sunday in Manila, Philippines, where Canada gets a second shot to claim the Olympic berth that slipped away last year when it blew a late lead and was stunned by Venezuela in the semifinals of the FIBA Americas tournament.Cory Joseph of the Toronto Raptors scored 23 points and Tristan Thompson of the NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers added 13 points and 10 rebounds Saturday in a 78-72 victory over New Zealand.France beat Turkey 75-63 in the other semifinal, getting 17 points from Thomas Heurtel.After Sundays final, there will be a draw to place the three champions in the Rio field. Two of them will end up in the same group as the two-time defending champion U.S.Along with the Americans, the other teams who have already qualified for the 12-team field are Spain, Lithuania, Argentina, Venezuela, Brazil, China, Australia and Nigeria.---Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/BriancmahoneyCheap NCAA Jerseys China . Having already announced that the race will start May 9 with three stages in Northern Ireland and Ireland and finish in Trieste on June 1, the rest of the route was unveiled Monday. Cheap NCAA Football Jerseys . Kiriasis and brakeman Franziska Fritz finished two runs in one minute 55.41 seconds -- a mere 0.01 seconds ahead of Meyers and Lolo Jones, who likely bolstered her Olympic hopes by helping give USA-1 a huge push in the second heat. http://www.cheapcollegejerseys.us.org/ . Its the second straight game Bell has scored in extra time for Kelowna, which beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-5 on Friday, and he now has four game-winning goals on the season. NCAA Jerseys Wholesale .C. -- Chris Thorburn thinks one of the reasons the Winnipeg Jets have been successful under new coach Paul Maurice is that theyre playing together as a team. Wholesale College Jerseys . McPhee said that Ovechkins father Mikhail is in stable condition after having the surgery this week and is no longer in intensive care. "Weve told him to stay as long as necessary with your dad," he said. Ovechkin and his Russian national team were eliminated from the mens hockey tournament in Sochi on Wednesday with a 3-1 quarter-final loss to Finland.The furore over Faf du Plessis mint-sucking episode brought a whole new connotation to the word gobsmacked, following Australias complete capitulation at the Bellerive Oval.Like the capitulation, du Plessis misdemeanour could prove to be a watershed moment. The former turned the spotlight on Australian selections, while the latter might have a similar effect on the ball-tampering law.On the basis that if you cant beat them you might as well join them, I proposed a few years ago that players should be allowed to do one thing that assisted them in swinging the ball.Like wristspin, the swinging delivery is crucial to Test crickets viability as a competitive and entertaining sport. In both cases the bowler has to bowl a full length to encourage the batsman to drive, and this often leads to one of two outcomes: it either brings about a classical shot for a boundary, or a misjudgement that prematurely ends an innings. The risk-reward aspect of these two forms of bowling adds greatly to the anticipation and enjoyment of cricket fans. Both arts should be encouraged by selectors and law-makers.With this in mind, I suggested that the law-makers should invite international captains to check with their players and then provide a list of things they felt enhanced swing bowling. Once these lists were submitted, the law-makers could then decide on one thing that enhanced swing bowling that could be made legal. A player using any other method of enhancement would face a ban, with severe consequences for straying. By compromising in this manner, the administrators would not only enhance the game but also simplify life for the officials at the ground and give the players an incentive to obey the law.By making one method of preparing the ball legal, there would also be less pressure on teams to try and outdo their opponents. There would also be less risk that one side would be caught while another got off scot-free. The greatest successs on the field would then be achieved by the most skilful swing bowlers.dddddddddddd.It was pretty obvious that du Plessis was angered by his fine and the inference that he was a cheat. He responded exactly as you would expect from a proud, strong-minded person, by making a defiant century at Adelaide Oval. By the time du Plessis was celebrating his three-figure score, Ill bet there were many Australian supporters who wished they hadnt inspired the South African captain by booing him on his way to the crease.The fact that no opponent of du Plessis was enraged by his actions, and many were even supportive, suggests that, as has been inferred, all teams are doing it. Englands Marcus Trescothick even revealed in a book that the 2005 team used sweets to assist with the shining of the ball in their successful Ashes campaign.Hence the feeling that if you cant beat em, join em.If international batsmen were to object to a proposal to legalise a ball-shining enhancement, it would be hypocritical. Firstly, many of the current laws and playing conditions favour batsmen over bowlers. Secondly, the majority of captains are batsmen and they are happy to condone their own players questionable actions when the team is in the field.With the advent of leagues like the IPL, which attract many overseas players, there are now virtually no secrets in the game. Also, through these leagues players from different international teams have become quite close friends, and consequently they are reluctant to be critical of each other.Producing late-swinging deliveries has always been a destructive weapon for bowlers and an exciting aspect of the game for fans. At Bellerive, Australia was beaten by the better bowling side rather than an opposing captain who liberally applied gobs of mint-flavoured saliva to the ball. ' ' '