Hard und Software » And having the winningest road-course racer of all time

Come the Olympics and tennis can be relied upon to provide a bucketful of drama. The 2016 build up hasnt quite matched the heights, or depths, of the events of 2012 but theres been a smattering anyway. At the end of it, three doubles combinations have been identified. Rohan Bopanna, who earned direct qualification having finished in the top-10, will pair up with veteran Leander Paes in the mens doubles. Paes, set for his seventh Olympics has slumped dramatically in the rankings and the chances of the combination returning with a medal appear remote. It is with World number one Sania Mirza that Bopanna forms a likelier medal hope in the mixed doubles - they are close friends and showed sparks of gelling well at the International Premier Tennis League at the end of last season. Mirza will also feature in the womens doubles alongside the up and coming Prarthana Thombare, but dont expect that pairing to go very far. Net net, a tennis medal will be a bonus.The teamRohan Bopanna - Mens doubles and mixed doublesLeander Paes - Mens doublesSania Mirza - Womens doubles and mixed doublesPrarthana Thombare - Womens doublesThe key datesAugust 6-14?How they got thereRohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza qualified for the mens and womens doubles respectively by virtue of being ranked in the top 10 on June 6th, which was the cut-off for the Olympics. It also ensured a berth in the mixed doubles draw for them.What they sayPrarthana ThombareIts a dream come true to be playing alongside Sania at the ultimate sporting arena.Sania MirzaWe are the biggest contingent thats going. We are really excited and hopefully we can put up a good performance.ExtrasThis will be Leander Paes seventh Olympics, which is the most for any Indian. No other Indian has appeared in more than five Olympics.Indias track record*India won its only medal in tennis at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, where Leander Paes won a bronze in the mens singles.*Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi finished fourth in the mens doubles at the Athens Olympics in 2004, which is Indias best performance in the mens doubles.*Sania Mirza made the last 16 with Sunitha Rao in the womens doubles at the Beijing Olympics, which is Indias best performance in the womens doubles.*Sania Mirza also made the quarterfinals in the mixed doubles with Leander Paes at the London Olympics in 2012, which is Indias best performance in the mixed doubles. Fake Vans From China .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. Fake Vans . - Goaltender Philippe Desrosiers of the Rimouski Oceanic has broken a shutout record that was only three months old in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. https://www.vansfake.com/ . From filmmaker Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes), The Price of Gold revisits the saga that rocked the figure skating world ahead of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Winter Games: the assault on Nancy Kerrigan, and the plot that led its way back to her rival Tonya Harding. Fake Vans For Sale . 10 Texas Rangers jersey for one last time. Young formally announced his retirement Friday after returning to Rangers Ballpark, his baseball home for all but the last of his 13 major league seasons. Fake Vans Website . 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. Our experts weigh in on four of the biggest questions in NASCAR.Turn 1: Which Chase bubble driver is feeling the most pressure following Pocono?Ricky Craven, ESPN NASCAR analyst: Chase Elliott has had a miserable month and a half, made a few mistakes, and his interviews suggest he is putting too much pressure on himself. Its healthy to be self-deprecating at times, but the young man seems too much on edge, his judgment behind the wheel a few times the past month indicates to me he is trying too hard to do too much. Long term, this guy is a big winner in our sport. Short term, he needs to discover his limits and operate within them.Ryan McGee, ESPN.com: Greg Biffle had really gotten it going in July with three straight top-10s, his first top-10s of the season. But he wrecked at Indy and then finished 25th at Pocono, a track where weve seen him save seasons in the past. Hes not good at Watkins Glen, so were going to be looking at a Hail Mary situation for him at Bristol, Michigan and Darlington. Im not sure that team has a Hail Mary in them.John Oreovicz, ESPN.com: The driver who is putting himself under the most pressure seems to be Chase Elliott. He came close to winning a couple of times, and since then, it looks like hes been pressing, which has led to mistakes and misjudgments. It will be interesting to see whether he can regroup and regain his early season form in the races leading up to the Chase.Bob Pockrass, ESPN.com: Kyle Larson. It appeared that if he kept running fairly well, he should be good for the final Chase spot. Now with Chris Buescher winning, he could end up fighting teammate Jamie McMurray for that final position. And if a driver outside the top 14 wins at Watkins Glen, hell probably need a win to make the Chase.Turn 2: Weve heard a lot about Chase Elliott and Ryan Blaney. Whats the outlook for Chris Buescher?Craven: Chris is half a step behind these two, primarily because of the equipment he is in. With that said, Buescher has done more with less than perhaps any other in our sport. Ive always been impressed with his methodical/logic-based approach to driving a race car. It earned him an Xfinity Series title in NASCAR last year ... perhaps it could in Sprint Cup one day if he could land in cars as capable as the 21 and 24.McGee: His talent is unmistakable, but, all due respect to Front Row Motorsports, he needs a better ride. It feels like we might have some unexpected Silly Season moving and shaking coming. I wouldnt be surprised if he gets some top-shelf numbers popping up in his caller ID.Oreovicz: He knows how to finish races, and that skill, when coupled with the right crew chief and strategist, can win races. For the short term, Bueschers outlook is heavily dependent upon whether Roush Fenway Racing can return to being a front-running team. If RFR picks up its game, Buescher is a safe pair of hands for the teams future.Pockrass: Same as it was before Pocono. He will be in a Roush Fenway car by 2018 as Greg Biffles deal ends after 2017 and if no reason exists to keep that relationship going. Trevor Baynes improvement this year -- he currently sits as the top Roush Fenway driver in points -- makes an argument to sponsor Advocare and Roush Fenway that he deserves a contract extension, regardless of what Buescher does. If Advocare doesnt renew, then Bueschers win could boost his chances of Roush Fenway landing sponsorship for him in the No. 6 car.Turn 3: Whats your take on the later start times next year in Sprint Cup, many of them at 3 p.m.?Craven: I applaud any move that helps recapture growth, or at least interrupts declining trends. One has to assume a lot of effort went into making these decisions ... right???McGee: I was working at NASCAR when the meetings took place about the later start times the last time around. The reason it was started was to grab West Coast viewers and the occasional primetime crossover. It was ultimately abandoned because fans had a hard time tracking when races were going to start. So, well see because itt feels like its all over the place again.dddddddddddd The 10 Chase races hit five different starting times and only start at the same time back-to-back twice. But I do like the idea that in the fall Sunday races will start in the middle of NFL games instead of starting head-to-head at 1 p.m. ET. Thats never a fight NASCAR will win.Oreovicz: I dont care for later race starts because I think they are not friendly to fans or participants. If a 3-1/2-hour race green flags at 3:40 p.m., not too many people are going to make it back to their homes that night unless they are flying private. An extra night on the road costs time and money. My guess is that late start times will adversely affect attendance, so I hope that NASCAR and the television networks are happy with whatever they perceive they are getting from them.Pockrass: When the move to consistent start times was announced in 2009, then-Fox Sports Chairman David Hill said: Its become clear to us that traditional, early Sunday afternoon, start times are favored by NASCAR fans who both attend races and watch on television. Whats changed since NASCAR scrapped later starting times? Fox says: A lot of things that were true about television seven years ago are not necessarily true today. Our interpretation of all the current available data is that we are better served by having some races start later in the day when more people are watching TV. Call me skeptical that the data now is more prophetic than a decade ago. One thing NASCAR must do: It must encourage drivers and teams to do everything they can to connect with fans in attendance.Turn 4: If Dale Earnhardt Jr. cant return after Bristol, should Jeff Gordon continue in the seat?Craven: Only if his heart is in it. Im troubled by Dale Earnhardt Jr. having the final few innings of his career interrupted by injury. Im becoming at least a little concerned that Jeff is filling in because he is such a loyal soldier, so to speak. I do not want to see Jeff put himself in a compromising position. But if he is enthusiastic toward this situation, then he is the absolute perfect man for the job!McGee: I wrote a column about this that Im still catching flak for, but I still feel the same. I think it is so admirable that Gordon has filled in and none of us should have ever expected anything less from him during an incredibly difficult time for the entire organization. And having the winningest road-course racer of all time at Watkins Glen feels like a no-brainer. But every week that ticks by is another week that the 88 team moves away from making the Chase and every week Gordon is in the car feels like another week of crossing fingers and hoping nothing goes wrong. His seat belt came undone at Pocono. I love seeing Gordon out there. But I think theres always been a time when the practical thing to do is put a kid in that car. I think thats now.Oreovicz: Hes in for the next two races, but if Junior doesnt make it back soon after that, its time for Hendrick to start thinking about the future instead of the past. Whether he comes back next month or next year, the end of Earnhardts career is in sight. Grooming young talent in the form of Gordon and Jimmie Johnson has worked for Hendrick in the past, and with Johnson also older than 40 and underachieving Kasey Kahne not much younger, its time for HMS to start building for the future. Problem is, most of the upcoming young talent is contracted to Toyota.Pockrass: No. He has done enough to help the team and also have ideas for the direction Hendrick Motorsports should go to improve performance. The team should have put in Justin Allgaier at Bristol -- the guy had a top-10 there last year in an HScott Motorsports car. Give other drivers a shot and use the car as a test car the rest of the way. Even if that means losing a spot in the owners championship, what can be learned could help win the actual one. ' ' '