Herausforderungen » woman from Saudi Arabia to comp

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Nicolas Batum said he isnt planning to alter how he plays the game after signing a five-year, $120 million contract with the Charlotte Hornets.And thats just fine with coach Steve Clifford.Clifford said Batum doesnt need to put additional pressure on himself to score just because hes now the highest-paid player in Hornets history. He told him to play how he plays.You dont change the nature of how you play. I think guys get messed up with that, Clifford said. ... I dont think you try to reinvent yourself because the money changed. We gave him the money because he played so well. In my opinion he was an All-Star-caliber player last season when healthy.Batum was acquired in a trade with Portland before last season and turned out to be a gem for Charlotte, which won 48 games and tied for the third-best record in the Eastern Conference. Batum averaged a career-high 14.9 points and 5.6 assists while becoming one of the teams top three go-to options.Batum said hes learned from experience that its not worth putting pressure on himself just because he signed a big contract.He did in that 2012 after inking a four-year, $46 million deal to remain with the Portland Trail Blazers. While he still played well, he said it was pointless.I was a young guy at the time and I didnt know what to expect, Batum said. Now I know. I know what I have to go through right now. I know what the views of the media and the public will be. I know that, and Im good with it.For Batum, pressure no longer enters the equation because the Hornets trust him and believe in him.Its more relief than pressure, Batum said.The Hornets made re-signing him their No. 1 priority, offering the Frenchman a huge deal about an hour into the free-agency signing period. Batum also received several offers from other teams shortly after the deadline, which he called flattering.The 6-foot-8, 200-pound Batum enters the season as Charlottes best all-around player and a favorite among teammates.Guys are so much more comfortable when hes out there on the floor because he makes it so much easier at both ends, forward Marvin Williams said.Williams said theres a naturalness to Batums game, and hes incredibly unselfish -- hes always looking for the better shot option.He likes to make the assist, and he likes to get everyone involved, Williams said. I think that is why so many people like playing with him. Its why I love playing with him.And why Clifford views him as irreplaceable.When Batum went down in the second half of last season with an ankle injury, the Hornets struggled to find their rhythm.Hes not a numbers guy to me, Clifford said. People can say, `Well, hes making this or hes making that (much money), but if he plays at the level he played at last year when he was healthy, we have a chance to be a really good team.The Hornets continue to work on 5-on-5 scrimmages extensively during practice as Clifford gets a feel for his team.But there were several key players missing on Thursday.Point guard Kemba Walker (knee) and center Cody Zeller (knee) remained out of practice while rehabbing from injuries. Guard Jeremy Lamb did not practice after stepping on a basketball and twisting his ankle, while Brian Roberts was held out after injuring his hamstring when he slipped on some water on the court. Clifford said he hopes to have Lamb and Roberts back in a few days.Custom Oakland Raiders Jerseys . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Trayvon Mullen Youth Jersey .Y. -- Canadas Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse have another World Cup gold medal after winning the two-women bobsled race on Saturday in Lake Placid, N. https://www.raiderssportsgoods.com/Womens-Lyle-Alzado-Inverted-Jersey/ . -- Derrick Rose shook off poor shooting early to hit clutch shots late and Carlos Boozer had 20 points and 13 rebounds to lead the Chicago Bulls to a 104-95 preseason victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. Hunter Renfrow Jersey . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. He has three goals and five assists through 36 games with the Leafs this season. Clelin Ferrell Jersey . After the whistle, Thornton skated the length of the ice, pulled Orpik to the ice from behind and punched him in the face several times.RIO DE JANEIRO -- The Latest on the Rio Games (all times local to Rio de Janeiro):7:50 p.m.Brazils hopes of winning its first Olympic gold medal in soccer took a hit Sunday when its starting goalkeeper Fernando Prass was ruled out of the tournament after fracturing his right elbow.Brazil coach Rogerio Micale replaced Prass with 28-year-old Weverton, from Brazilian club Atletico Paranaense.Prass missed a couple of practice sessions last week after hurting his elbow on Monday. He appeared to have recovered and was expected to play in a friendly match against Japan on Saturday but was ruled out after re-injuring the elbow in a pre-game warmup.The 38-year-old Palmeiras goalkeeper was one of the selected players older than age 23, along with star striker Neymar and midfielder Renato Augusto.---6 p.m.Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will lead a 25-person delegation to Rio de Janeiro to promote the citys bid for the 2024 Olympics.The delegation also includes bid chairman Casey Wasserman, CEO Gene Sykes and vice chair Janet Evans.American IOC members Larry Probst, Anita DeFrantz and Angela Ruggiero, along with U.S. Olympic Committee CEO Scott Blackmun, will also be involved in LAs bid promotion during the Rio de Janeiro Games.The bid committee says the team will meet with International Olympic Committee leaders and sports federation officials.Los Angeles, seeking to bring the Summer Games to the U.S. for the first time since Atlanta hosted the 1996 Olympics, is competing against Paris, Rome and Budapest, Hungary. The IOC will select the host city in September 2017.French President Francois Hollande and Italian Premier Matteo Renzi will also be in Rio to promote the Paris and Rome bids.---4:20 p.m.The head of Australias delegation at the Rio Olympics says a laptop and team shirts were stolen from the teams accommodation at the athletes village on Friday while the building was being evacuated because of a small fire.Delegation head Kitty Chiller on Sunday called the situation concerning but added unfortunately theft is going to be inevitable in a compound with 31 buildings and up to 18,000 athletes and staff.Australia has been hard hit so far in Rio.It declined to enter the village on the official opening day a week ago, citing gas and water leaks, electrical shorts, and general filth in its building.The team began checking in on Wednesday, but on Friday a small fire broke out in the basement of the building, which forced an evacuation. There were no injuries.---1:55 p.m.Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee, says the IOC is helping the local organizing committee of the Rio Games with a widely reported cash-flow problem.He did not give details of the IOCs financial support.ddddddddddddThe local organizing committee has an operating budget of 7.4 billion Brazilian reals ($2.3 billion), to cover the games themselves and the cost of building roads and sports venues. Organizers have promised to operate a balanced budget, which has forced severe cutbacks.Brazil has been plunged into its deepest recession since the 1930s, which has slowed the sales of local advertising, sponsorships, and tickets.The budget shortfall has been reported to be about $70 million.Bach says the IOC is helping the organizing committee to make sure that these games will be the success we all want it to be.---1:15 p.m.IOC President Thomas Bach has defended the committees decision not to ban Russias entire Olympic team and says the countrys doping scandal will not damage the credibility of the Rio de Janeiro Games.Bach says a total ban on Russia would not be justifiable on either moral or legal grounds because every human being is entitled to certain rights of natural justice.Bach says the IOC set a very high bar by imposing strict criteria for international sports federations to apply in deciding which individual Russian athletes should be cleared to compete at the Rio Games, which open on Friday.Asked how damaging the situation is, Bach replied: I dont think that this, in the end, will be damaging because people will realize we have to take this decision now.---1:00 p.m.Saudi Arabia will send four female athletes to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, doubling its female participation after two women took part in the 2012 London Games for the first time.Two of the athletes will participate in track and field, one in judo and one in fencing, Hosam al-Qurashi, executive director of the Saudi Olympic Committee, told The Associated Press on Sunday.Among the four is Sarah Attar, who was the first woman from Saudi Arabia to compete in Olympic track and field in 2012.Al-Qurashi says a total of 11 Saudi athletes are competing in Rio.---12:50 p.m.Alexander Zverev has become the latest tennis player to drop out of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, citing health issues.The rising German talent said in a statement that he did not feel 100 percent in his last two matches in Washington and Toronto and that after consulting with his doctors and his team we have decided that I have to withdraw from the Olympics. He did not give details.The 19-year-old Zverev, who is ranked No. 25 in the world, lost in the semifinals of Washington to Gael Monfils and then lost in the first round to Lu Yen-hsun in the first round of the Masters Series event in Toronto. ' ' '