Dein erstes Forum » ering at his players guest box, he soo

RIO DE JANEIRO -- The IOC approved the entry of 271 Russian athletes for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics on Thursday, meaning 70 percent of the countrys original team will compete after a doping scandal that has dominated the buildup to the games.Also Thursday, the IOC rule barring Russian athletes with prior doping sanctions from competing in the games was rejected as unenforceable by a sports arbitration panel, a decision which could open the door to further appeals and more Russians being entered.The International Olympic Committee announced the go-ahead for 271 Russian athletes about 24 hours before the opening ceremony of the games. Overall, more than 100 Russians have been excluded, including 67 in track and field.The IOC recently rejected calls from anti-doping organizations to ban Russias entire team following a report by a World Anti-Doping Agency investigator that detailed evidence of state-directed doping and cover-ups.Instead, the IOC asked international federations to examine individual Russian athletes to determine if they should be eligible for the games. The IOC set up a panel of three executive board members to review the entries and make the final call, taking into account the advice of an independent sports arbitrator.After the review, the IOC declared in Thursdays statement: 271 athletes will form the team entered by the Russian National Olympic Committee from the original entry list of 389 athletes.Russian Olympic Committee president Alexander Zhukov told reporters earlier that 271 of his countrys athletes had been cleared.We have good news for the fans of the Russian Olympic team, he said. The majority of the sports have been admitted in full.As of today, Zhukov added, I think there is no other team that is so clean and so carefully controlled than the Russian one.Several international federations announced separately Thursday that they had received the final approval for Russian entries in their events, including boxing, judo, equestrian, volleyball and golf.Russias track and field team remains barred following an earlier decision by the IAAF. Only one athlete, U.S.-based long jumper Darya Klishina, was cleared by the IAAF because she had been regularly tested outside Russia.Meanwhile, the Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed the IOC rule that bars from the games any Russian athletes with prior doping sanctions, saying it amounts to sanctioning someone twice for one offense. CAS said the rule does not respect the athletes right of natural justice.IOC spokesman Mark Adams told The Associated Press: We respect CAS and will of course follow their decision.The rule was part of the stricter eligibility criteria set up by the IOC in the wake of McLarens report, which accused the Russian sports ministry of orchestrating a doping program that involved athletes in more than two dozen summer and winter Olympic sports.CAS said the rule goes against the IOCs stated aim to provide the athletes with an opportunity to rebut the presumption of guilt and to recognize the right to natural justice.The CAS ruling came in the cases of Russian rowers Anastasia Karabelshivo and Ivan Podshivalov, who both received two-year doping bans in 2008, and swimmer Yulia Efimova, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Games who served a two-year ban from 2013-15.CAS rejected the athletes appeal to be granted direct entry into the games, saying it was now up to the international rowing and swimming federations to decide whether to let them in or not.Its not the first time CAS has struck down an IOC anti-doping measure. In 2011, it annulled the IOCs so-called Osaka rule, which would have barred any athlete who had received a serious doping punishment from the subsequent Olympics.Zhukov, the Russian Olympic chief, said earlier that it was discriminatory that Russian track and field athletes without doping links were barred from the games, while U.S. sprinters with previous drug suspensions would be competing.I believe its very unfair that such athletes like Yelena Isinbayeva and Sergei Shubenkov, without any doping history, absolutely clean, cannot participate in the Olympics, however many athletes including American runners like for example (Justin) Gatlin and Tyson (Gay), who were punished for doping many times, will take part in these Olympics, he said. I think this is absolutely unfair.IOC President Thomas Bach again defended the decision not to ban the entire Russian Olympic team, insisting that athletes cannot be punished for the wrongdoing of their government.We had to follow the rules of justice and justice has to be independent from politics, Bach said. You cannot answer to a violation of a law by another violation of a law. This is destroying justice. We had to respect basic principles of natural law.--Follow Stephen Wilson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stevewilsonap. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/stephen-wilsonBryant Reeves Jersey .C. Lions has come to an end. Banks told TSN on Jan 2 that he had no interest in playing out the option year of his contract with the Lions in 2014, and he again made that clear in a conversation with Lions GM Wally Buono last week. Mike Bibby Jersey . -- The Missouri Tigers might not have a roster full of superstars. http://www.grizzliesbasketballpro.info/Allen-Iverson-Grizzlies-Jersey/ . Hargreaves began his career in 2008 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has played with the Edmonton Eskimos and last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Zach Randolph Grizzlies Jersey . Now that hes hitting streaking teammates with pin-point passes for easy layups, Love is asserting himself as one of the true superstars in the league. Lorenzen Wright Jersey . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday.Novak Djokovic has historically basked in the glow of the spotlight at the Londons O2 Arena, but for Andy Murray, the glare during the ATP World Tour Finals has usually been harsh, exposing his weaknesses and shortcomings.It might be a different story for the new world No. 1 this year.On Monday, Murray launched his campaign to consolidate the No. 1 ranking he lifted from Djokovics hands a little more than a week ago in Paris. He crushed Marin Cilic in the first match of the round-robin stage, 6-3, 6-2, in an hour and a half. Afterward, Murray admitted in his on-court interview, Its one of the best matches I have played here.It also was one of the most timely demonstrations of the hardworking 29-year-old Scots rewarding, but often frustrating, career.Like Rafael Nadal, a fellow member of the Big Four, Murray has never won the eight-man ATP grand finale. Unlike Nadal, Murray hasnt even made a final at the year-enders despite his expertise on hard courts. Its surprising when you consider the adulation from a besotted British crowd beaming down at him and the hybrid round-robin format that allows a player various backdoor ways to advance.Murray has qualified for nine finals (eight at the palatial O2 Arena), but his win against Cilic barely nudged him over the .500 mark in his year-end career (12-11). Murrays 6-0, 6-1 loss to 33-year-old Roger Federer in 2014 was a career low point -- and a painful embarrassment.Meanwhile, Djokovic is working on his fifth consecutive and sixth overall WTF title.The O2 arena is basically deep enemy territory for Murray. Djokovic has every right to pound his chest (as we know, hes not above it) and bellow, This is MY house! Chez Djokovic isnt exactly the place Murray would choose to turn his fortunes around, but recent events have conspired to turn this tournament into just that -- a showdown for the No. 1 ranking, as well as the even more precious year-end No. 1 ranking.Murray is the 26th man to reach No. 1 on the ATP computer. But only 16 have finished a calendar year as top man. Murray needs to go one round further than Djokovic (or to beat him in the final) to secure the honors.Until he actually became No. 1, Murray hadd been protesting that hitting the summit was not really his goal this fall.dddddddddddd He declared he might have a better shot at in next spring. Far from the O2 Arena. Far from Chez Djokovic.Forget the prattle about how tough everyone is in the draw; this one was a gift handed to the beleaguered Djokovic. He is 24-0 against the three other players in his group --?Milos Raonic, Dominic Thiem (whom Djokovic beat Sunday) and Gael Monfils.Meanwhile, Murray was a solid but vulnerable 27-12 against the men in his field --?Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori and Cilic. To top it off, Cilic hit his career-high ranking of No. 7 just a week ago, and he hammered Murray in the Cincinnati final the last time they met.I dont feel any different this week than I did the week before when I get up in the morning and stuff, Murray said in the pretournament news conference in London.It was an uh-oh moment, saved only when he almost grudgingly elaborated on the effect of becoming the top player: Maybe when you step on court, you have a little more confidence, feel a little better about yourself when youre hitting balls and getting ready for the tournament.That confidence showed in his match with Cilic. Although Murray got off to a rocky start, smacking errant forehands and jabbering at his players guest box, he soon settled down, breaking Cilic to take a 3-1 lead. Murray won 59 percent of his second-serve points, and his aggressive return game paid off with four breaks in five break-point chances. Cilic also had five break points but converted just one.Murray attributed his sharp response to critical moments to the confidence he has accumulated in the course of a winning streak that now stands at 20 matches. Hell probably need to puff himself up even more assertively in the coming days because of the stakes in play.Winning this event is a very tall order for Murray, but he has been handling such demands with great resolve all fall. He has landed more squarely in the spotlight than ever before -- and the glare didnt seem nearly as bleak on Monday. ' ' '