Dein erstes Forum » Jackson said on a teleconference Friday

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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Patrice Bergeron and Daniel Paille scored 20 seconds apart a few minutes after Stamkos was taken off the ice on a stretcher with a broken right leg, and the Bruins beat the Lightning 3-0 on Monday afternoon. CLEVELAND -- The Browns added some beef to their defensive line while they considered cuts to their roster.Cleveland signed defensive lineman Stephen Paea, a 2011 second-round pick released earlier this week by the Washington Redskins. The 6-foot-1, 310-pound Paea gives the Browns some depth and versatility up front.With Desmond Bryant done for the season with a chest injury and Armonty Bryant scheduled to miss four games with a drug suspension, the Browns were in the market for line help. Paea is a solid pickup.Before the Browns announced his signing, Paea posted a picture on Twitter of him signing his new contract with the caption: One mans trash is another mans treasure.Browns coach Hue Jackson said the 28-year-old Paea can line up directly over center or in a four-man front.He can play in a 3-4, and he has played in some 3-4 in Washington, Jackson said on a teleconference Friday. He played in some 4-3 before. He is versatile that way. He can play in any system that we play in.Clevelands defense has struggled during the preseason and Jackson made it clear hes willing to experiment and try different formations. Nothing is set in stone.We will do whatever we think it takes to win football games, he said. The most important thing now is about game planning to give our players the best chance to have success in games and have opportunities to win games.To make room for Paea, the team waived running back Rajion Neal, who suffered a quadriceps injury in Thursdays 21-7 loss to Chicago.The Browns finished the exhibition season 0-4, only the third time in franchise history the team has gone winless in the preseason.dddddddddddd Jackson knows theres work to be done before the Sept. 11 season opener at Philadelphia, and the coaching staff and front office members met Friday to discuss roster moves.The NFL requires teams be down to 53 players by Saturday, and one of the most interesting decisions could be with cornerback Justin Gilbert. A first-round draft pick in 2014, Gilbert has been a major disappointment with Cleveland. The former Oklahoma State standout has made just three starts in two seasons and shown little to justify his selection with the No. 8 overall pick -- by the Browns previous regime.Gilbert is currently in concussion protocol after sustaining a head injury last week in Tampa. But Jackson said the 24-year-olds roster spot is not a given.Justin did some things better (this summer), Jackson said. Everything has an opportunity to be evaluated, everything that every player has done. Our goal and our job is to make sure that we keep the best players here. Do I think he has improved? Yeah. Are we going to sit down and evaluate and talk through every opportunity that a young man has had and we can see where they fit for our football team? We are going to do that, also.---Online: AP NFL website: www.pro32.ap.org and www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '