Sonstiges » league losses and the Tigers hold the tiebreaker with

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- And now for the gold-medal match. Three months after being surprisingly booted out of the 2020 Olympics, wrestling is back in the frame and will compete against baseball-softball and squash for a spot in the games. "We had the opportunity to have a second chance to compete," international wrestling federation head Nenad Lalovic said Wednesday after the three sports made the IOC shortlist. "We took the opportunity. We won the first match but there is another one to fight." Of eight sports competing for a place on the 2020 program, five were eliminated from the race -- karate, roller sports, sport climbing, wakeboarding and the Chinese martial art of wushu. The IOC executive board decided to recommend wrestling, squash and baseball-softball to the full IOC assembly for a final decision on Sept. 8 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Only one will get through. "We are competitors. We had seven and now we have two," said Lalovic, a Serb who has revamped the governing body FILA and led the campaign for reinstatement. "Be careful, we are good fighters." Despite a tradition dating to the ancient Olympics, wrestling was cut from the list of core sports by the IOC board in February. The decision caused an international uproar and prompted the United States, Russia, Iran and other countries to join forces in an unlikely political alliance to save the sport. Wrestling has gone through a major upheaval since the rejection. Raphael Martinetti resigned as FILA president within days of the decision and was replaced by Lalovic, who won the election as full-time leader 10 days ago. FILA has brought women and athletes into decision-making roles and enacted rule changes to make the competition more compelling. Matches will now consist of two three-minute sessions instead of three two-minute periods, and scoring will be cumulative instead of the previous best-of-three system. "Everybody understood what we have done," said Lalovic, wiping away sweat from his forehand after the decision was announced in a packed conference room. "They probably trust us that we can do more and this is the result. "But we have to do much more, and to prepare ourselves for Buenos Aires with additional arguments. These will not be sufficient in Buenos Aires." Asked whether the result showed the IOCs earlier decision was a mistake, Lalovic said: "I cant say that. Simply, I dont judge them. They are in the position to judge us." Wednesdays announcement came after the eight sports federations made 30-minute closed-door presentations to the IOC board. The board voted by secret ballot over several rounds, with a majority required for making the shortlist and low vote-getters eliminated. Wrestling showed its newfound strength by winning on the first round with eight of the 14 votes. It took baseball-softball and squash several votes before they secured enough votes for selection. "The number of this vote today doesnt have any influence on the voting in the session," Lalovic said. "It doesnt mean we have any advantage in Buenos Aires. In Buenos Aires, well have the same starting position." Baseball-softball beat karate 9-5 in a head-to-vote to win its spot on the list. Squash got through in the final round, getting eight votes to defeat wushu with four and sport climbing with two. "It was never going to be an easy decision but I feel my colleagues on the board made a good decision in selecting baseball-softball, squash and wrestling to be put forward in Buenos Aires," IOC President Jacques Rogge said in a statement. "I wish the three shortlisted sports the best of luck in the run-up to the vote in September and would like to thank the other sports for their hard work and dedication." The process has created some embarrassment for the International Olympic Committee, which was forced to row back from its previous ruling. The addition of wrestling to the mix has not gone down well with all the applicant sports and some IOC members. If wrestling wins the vote in September, that will defeat the IOCs original goal of bringing in a new sport in 2020. Mens baseball and womens softball, which have been off the program since the 2008 Beijing Games, merged into a single federation to improve their chances of getting back in. The two were cut by the IOC in 2005, the first sports dropped since polo in 1936, and failed several times to win reinstatement as individual sports. "Were just very happy that we made that shortlist and now I guess were in the seventh inning and weve got to go on to the ninth," said Don Porter, the American co-president of the World Baseball Softball Confederation. "Weve got a lot of young girls and boys out there who want to get their Olympic dreams back. "I think thats what all of us feel, that it vindicated in one sense, at least to give us another chance to try to do that." Cubas Antonio Castro, a son of Fidel Castro and a vice-president of the WBSC, was part of the delegation. The federation proposes separate baseball and softball tournaments of eight teams each, played as back-to-back six-day tournaments at a single venue. The lack of major league players has always been a disadvantage to baseballs Olympic bid. MLB commissioner Bud Selig has said the season wont be stopped to free players for the Olympics, but the federation is working to get some MLB players committed to coming. Squash is bidding for Olympic inclusion for a third time. The sport, which would join tennis and badminton as racket sports in the games, would hold singles tournaments featuring 32 male and 32 female players. Matches would be played in two glass courts. Tennis star Roger Federer is one of the sports backers. "I said to the executive board that the one big regret in my career is that I have never had the chance to compete in the Olympic Games, but I would happily trade all my seven world titles for the chance of Olympic gold," womens squash No. 1 Nicol David of Malaysia said. World Squash President N. Ramachandran said he wasnt worried by the fact it took many rounds of voting before his sport advanced to the final. "As long as youre on the shortlist, what does it matter?" he said. "Thats how I look at it. I think our chances are better than ever before. And who knows what will happen between now and September? Anything can happen." Perhaps the sport most disappointed with the result was karate, another third time bidder after losing out in 2005 and 2009. Karate, which had been considered a likely finalist, scored well with four or five votes through several rounds before eventually dropping out with two. 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The Anahim Lake, B.C., native was stellar in making 39 saves in his home province and Lars Eller got credit for a bizarre short-handed winner as the Canadiens defeated the Canucks 4-1.Clemsons big-play capabilities are finally showing up in games.After just one 40-yard play in the first five games of the season, the Tigers had three plays longer than 40 yards in the first quarter of last weeks 56-10 victory over Boston College and the Eagles top-ranked defense.Running back Wayne Gallman scored on a 59-yard run, receiver Mike Williams had a 50-yard reception and tight end Jordan Leggett had a 56-yard touchdown catch in an eight-minute span of the first quarter.We dominated in big plays and those are something we take a lot of pride in, Clemson coach Dabo Swinney said.There could be plenty of fireworks this week, too, when the No. 3 Tigers (6-0, 3-0 ACC) take on North Carolina State (4-1, 1-0 ACC) at noon ET Saturday (ABC) at Memorial Stadium in Clemson.In last years 56-41 victory at N.C. State, Clemson had scoring plays of 24, 57, 42, 40, 35, and 36 yards.Explosive plays -- thats what we want to do, Clemson co-offensive coordinator Jeff Scott said. You dont want to always have to drive 85 yards in 10 plays to score. Its hurting our plays per game, but well take the one-play scores. Its nice to get those.Theres no doubt it was an element we wanted to improve on. We have all the pieces. We just didnt connect in the first five games. Friday night we did connect.Clemson appears to be hitting on all cylinders at the seasons midpoint and a key point in the schedule. After playing N.C. State the Tigers will have a bye week before hitting the road to face Florida State on Oct. 29.Quarterback Deshaun Watson is rounding into midseason form. He has nine touchdown passes in the past two games and has a history of big games against N.C. State.We control our own destiny, Watson said. Everything is out in front of us that we want. Weve got some big games ahead.Sophomore wide receiver Deon Cain has emerged as a threat to score every time he touches the ball. Cain has only 13 receptions, which is fourth-best on the team, but six have resulted in touchdowns, including two scores in each of the past two games. He also had a 40-yard touchdown reception at N.C. Statee last season.ddddddddddddBarring an upset, the Tigers should be favored in each of their final six games and are firmly entrenched in the drivers seat in the ACCs Atlantic Division. Florida State already has two league losses and the Tigers hold the tiebreaker with Louisville by virtue of their victory on Oct. 1.But the Tigers cant be caught looking past N.C. State, which is coming off a waterlogged 10-3 victory against Notre Dame and won its only ACC outing 33-16 over then-unbeaten Wake Forest.Both of us are undefeated in our conference and right now were tied for first place, Swinney said. And we want to try to break that tie and have it in our favor when its over on Sunday. Its a big game, and I look forward to getting back at it.Defense has been a key for the Wolfpack. Notre Dame converted just one of 15 third-down situations and just two of four fourth downs last week, which coach Dave Doeren said was what pleased him most about the win.The Wolfpack got their only touchdown against the Irish on safety Dexter Wrights return of a blocked punt.For the season the Demon Deacons have allowed their opponents to convert only 20 of 71 third-down situations. That works out to just 28.1 percent success, 12th best in the country.Offensively, the Wolfpack managed only 198 yards in total offense against the Irish in the wind and rain. Running back Matt Dayes, however, did manage to rush for 126 yards against the Irish, giving him 563 for the season. He might have a little extra incentive because he suffered what became a season-ending injury during last Octobers game against Clemson.Quarterback Ryan Finley has shown an ability to take care of the football. He has gone 128 passes without throwing an interception in the five games this season. But he is coming off a game with only 27 passing yards in large part because of the messy conditions for the Notre Dame game.Im not really worried about yardage because of the field conditions, Doeren said. ' ' '