Boxengasse » and planned to start storing samples from more competit

YAS MARINA, Abu Dhabi -- This weekends title-deciding Abu Dhabi Grand Prix looks set to be incredibly close as Lewis Hamilton held an advantage of just 0.079s over Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg in second practice for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.Friday evening practice is the only session of the weekend held at the same time -- and therefore with the same track conditions -- as qualifying and the two championship contenders bolted on ultra-soft tyres midway through the session to set a qualifying simulation lap. Hamilton had the edge in sectors one and three, while Rosberg was quicker in sector two, but neither had a margin of more than 0.06s at any point of the lap, underlining just how closely matched the two drivers are.Although Rosberg will be aiming for pole position on Saturday, a repeat of performance would keep him on course for a top-three finish and the necessary points to secure the title, while Hamilton has to hope drivers from rival teams can get in the mix between now and the chequered flag on Sunday. Mercedes closest threat on Friday came from Ferraris Sebastian Vettel, who set a time 0.269s off Hamiltons benchmark. The Ferrari driver also used the ultra-soft compound tyre to set his time but suffered a gearbox failure towards the end of the session as he came to the end of a long run. However, the failure occurred on a practice gearbox and not his race box. meaning he will not face a penalty for a change ahead of Saturday.Red Bull had to settle for fourth and fifth, with Max Verstappen 0.528s off the top spot and just 0.001s ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo. Red Bull has often been slightly off the pace in Friday practice before returning as Mercedes closest rival in qualifying and the race. Kimi Raikkonen was sixth fastest in the second Ferrari following a mistake on his flying lap.Valtteri Bottas took seventh for Williams ahead of the two Force Indias and teammate Felipe Massa. Force India has a 27-point lead over Williams in the constructors championship, meaning the battle for fourth place is all but decided, but it looks like the two teams will still fight it out on track this weekend.McLaren will be keen to become part of that battle and finished the session 11th and 12th, with Fernando Alonso 0.457s ahead of Jenson Button. The two Haas drivers followed next with Esteban Gutierrez 0.096s ahead of Romain Grosjean, while Jolyon Palmer was 15th fastest for Renault ahead of impressive performances from both Esteban Ocon and Pascal Wehrlein in the Manors.The two Saubers and Kevin Magnussen rounded off the meaningful times in 18th, 19th and 20th after the two Toro Rossos were forced to abandon their running when Daniil Kvyat suffered a second puncture in as many practice sessions.As it did in FP1, Kvyats left rear tyre came apart at the shoulder, but this time it pitched him into a spin as he came through the high-speed section at Turn 16. He managed to stop the car just short of the barriers, but the scare was enough for Toro Rosso to call a halt to its practice until it had discovered a reason for the failure. Custom Predators Jerseys . The team also announced Tuesday that the Braves will wear a commemorative patch on the right sleeve during the season. The patch, shaped like home plate, carries the number 715, Aarons autograph and a "40th Anniversary" banner. P.K Subban Jersey Large . Rinne played two periods in his first game since left hip surgery in early May. Gabriel Bourque scored 3:07 into the second period and Austin Watson tallied 5:15 later for Nashville. http://www.custompredatorsjersey.com/ . The 27-year-old Scrivens will be joining his third NHL club since signing with the Toronto Maple Leafs as a free agent in 2010. The move also reunites with him with head coach Dallas Eakins from their time together with the American Hockey Leagues Toronto Marlies. Custom Predators Jersey China . Jon Montgomerys gold medal in skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre and his subsequent auctioning off of a pitcher of beer in the village square elevated him to folk-hero status. Cheap Predators Jerseys . -- There were a lot of firsts for the Edmonton Oilers on Tuesday night. RIO DE JANEIRO -- The weightlifting competition at the Rio Olympics played out under a cloud of suspicion and scandal so severe that there are fears the sport may get booted out of future games for doping.Competitors who finished outside the medals talked openly about their hopes of moving up in the standings once lab results came back for opponents they found suspicious. Four athletes have withdrawn or been disqualified so far after testing positive, including one who was taking small doses of a substance typically used as rat poison.Russias weightlifting team was banned for bringing what the International Weightlifting Federation called disrepute to the sport. And two more powerhouses, Kazakhstan and Belarus, are set to miss next years world championships over mass doping.It has all led to some deep soul-searching for the sport as leaders hope it not only remains in the Olympics but also cleans up its act once and for all. Once a highlight of the Olympics, weightlifting is on the program for 2020, but there is no guarantee beyond that.I hope we dont have this kind of situation, International Weightlifting Federation president Tamas Ajan told The Associated Press in a recent interview when asked if his sport risked losing its Olympic status. I hope that what weightlifting is doing is good enough and we are on the program.Ajan said he hoped 2015 would be a year of shock therapy that would result in a healthier sport, but competitors in Rio de Janeiro were not confident their sport was clean.Mercedes Isabel Perez of Colombia took fourth in the womens 63-kilogram event, but was practically exuding confidence that shell eventually win a medal.We have to wait for the doping tests, she said. Who knows? Being fourth is the best because if something happens, Ill just climb on that podium.Recent developments show she may have a point.Izzat Artykov of Kyrgyzstan was kicked out of the games and stripped of his bronze medal in the mens 69-kilogram division Thursday after failing a test for strychnine. Its a toxic substance typically used as a pest killer, but in smaller doses, it can help muscular performance.Two Polish weightlifters, one a former gold medalist, were also sent home before competing, and a Taiwanese world record holder withdrew hours before her event over drug test abnormalities.Of 45 medalists from the 2012 London Olympics, at least 20 have failed doping tests at some stage of their careers and as many as 12 medals from London could be reallocated after samples were retested with new technology this year.The weightlifting federation had tried to ban Kazakhstan and Belarus from thee Olympics as well, but Ajan said the International Olympic Committee had been too slow in processing doping cases in time for the ban to meet federation rules.dddddddddddd The countries ended up winning seven medals, one of them a gold medal for Kazakhstans Nijat Rahimov, who only returned from a two-year doping ban last year.He set a world record in the clean and jerk to win gold -- a result he credited to an intense training regimen. But his opponents had doubts, questioning how he could accomplish such a feat so soon after a lengthy suspension.In a very short time it cannot happen like that, Egypts Mohamed Mahmoud said.Ajan said the Soviet Union had left a legacy of steroid use that was hard to uproot.We had to take this decision even if it is painful, Ajan said of banning Russia. To use some forbidden substances, this was a part of the Soviet training methods ... Some countries here from the former Soviet Union, they use the same possibilities. I think in the near future they will stop using everything. We try to give very strong pressure and we continue very strong control also in the future.While most doping cases are from ex-Soviet or Eastern European countries, medal contenders like China, Iran and Taiwan have all also racked up drug offenses.Ajan said his organization tested a higher proportion of its competitors than any other major sports federation, and planned to start storing samples from more competitions for retesting later.Not one sport has done as many things as we have done, he added.Russia, however, will be back at the world championships next year, Ajan said. Asked whether it faced any extra punishment beyond the Rio Olympics, Ajan praised Russia for its academic and scientific approach to training, and the Soviet Union for basically a very strong and good contribution for the sport because performance was increased.Crowds for weightlifting in Rio were enthusiastic, but rarely filled much more than half of the arena near the Olympic Park, something Ajan blamed on spectators getting lost because of a lack of signs. The crowd relied heavily on delegations of athletes and coaches from competing countries, and a big group of fans from Colombia, one of the few countries in the western hemisphere where the sport remains popular.As weightlifting tries to regain its credibility, it will have to try to shift the focus back to superhuman lifts, not chemical boosts, and show that, as Ajan put it: There is much more to weightlifting than only doping. ' ' '