News & Neuigkeiten » alongside Ian Rush (28).Serbias

TROON, Scotland -- Jordan Spieth dealt golfs return to the Olympics yet another blow Monday, telling International Golf Federation officials just before a news conference that he would not be playing next month in Brazil.Spieth joins Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy in deciding to skip the Games, mostly due to concerns about the Zika virus that is prevalent in Rio de Janeiro. That means the top four players will be absent from the 60-player field, which was to be finalized following Sundays update to the Official World Golf Ranking.Matt Kuchar will replace Spieth for the United States, which will have Rickie Fowler, Bubba Watson and Patrick Reed as its representatives because they are all ranked among the top 15 in the world.Spieth, who was playing a practice round for The Open on Monday, is expected to discuss his decision during a Tuesday news conference.Its certainly disappointing that weve had so many withdrawals on the mens side, Peter Dawson, former head of the R&A and the president of the International Golf Federation, said during a news conference at Royal Troon.The men will be represented by seven of the top 13 players in the world, with Watson at No. 5 being the highest-ranked. Among the other top 13 players going to Rio are Henrik Stenson, Masters champion Danny Willett, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia.But the tournament has become more about who is not going. Spieth is a big blow, having on numerous occasions throughout the year expressed his eagerness to represent the United States.Adam Scott, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel, Graeme McDowell and Vijay Singh are other major championship winners who are not going.Its been a set of unique circumstances that has developed over the past year or so with respect to the decisions that players have made to decide to participate or not to participate, said IGF vice president Ty Votaw, an executive with the PGA Tour. But in terms of our outreach, our education, our trying to get them to understand what all the issues are and what the risks and other factors may be, we think we have done everything we can to educate them in the best possible way.Among the other concerns has been scheduling. The mens Olympic tournament begins just four weeks from Thursday, with another major championship, the PGA, in just two weeks. The PGA Tour also scheduled an event, the John Deere Classic -- where Spieth is the defending champion -- for the same week as the Olympic event.The following week is the Wyndham Championship, the last event of the regular season, followed by the FedEx Cup playoff events. For Americans and Europeans, there is also a Ryder Cup.Personally, I dont like it, defending Open champion Zach Johnson?said of the schedule. The fact that it [Olympics] jumbles everything together. Theres not many positives for us. Its really hard to navigate when you have major after major after major and very little time off ... And no offense to the Olympics, but Id rather be on the Ryder Cup team, personally.Golf is set to be part of the Games in 2020 in Tokyo, but sometime next year the International Olympic Committee will vote to decide its standing -- as it will with all sports -- for 2024.I think its worth remembering the tennis experience when they came back into the Olympics in 1988, Dawson said. They had quite a lot of difficulty attracting the top players to play, and just look at it now in the intervening years; tennis has become a very significant Olympic sport and very well-supported by the top players. I think golf will take a little bit of time as well. But I dont think it will take that long. Custom Padres Jersey China . -- Bryant McKinnie came out of his stance and lowered his shoulder into a practice squad player, causing a crisp thud to reverberate in the Miami Dolphins practice bubble. Cheap Custom Padres Jersey . It might not have mattered. While the Dodgers are preparing for the playoffs, the Padres showed their future has promise behind two rookies. http://www.custompadresjersey.com/ .C. -- Glenn Howard needed an extra end to move into the Masters Grand Slam of Curling final. Custom Padres T-shirts . 8 Iowa State on Saturday, sending the Cyclones to their third consecutive loss. The Longhorns (14-4, 3-2) got their biggest win of the season with their third in the row in the Big 12. Cheap Padres Jerseys . "Jeff is a hard worker who was an important special-teams contributor for us last season," said Stamps GM John Hufnagel.Wales face table-topping Serbia on Saturday as their quest for World Cup qualification continues at the Cardiff City Stadium, live on Sky Sports. Chris Colemans side sit third in Group D and are unbeaten with five points from their opening three matches, but they trail their Serbian opponents by two points. Wales vs Serbia November 12, 2016, 7:15pm Live on Get Sky Sports Get a Sky Sports pass The hosts, who have drawn their last two matches away to Austria and home to Georgia, will have Aaron Ramsey back for the first time since their dramatic 3-1 Euro 2016 quarter-final victory over Belgium. Manager Chris Coleman has declared the midfielder ready for action after an 11-week absence following a hamstring injury. Aaron Ramsey will return to the Wales side for the World Cup qualifier at home to Serbia on Saturday Ramsey has made only four appearances this season for Arsenal and missed Wales first three qualifiers.For Serbia, Southampton attacker Dusan Tadic has been their key player in recent games, directly contributing to their last 10 goals, including two assists and a fine finish in the 3-2 win over Austria. Ramsey is set to return to the Wales team Team newsRamsey is set to return in midfield, while Adam Matthews has been called up as a replacement for the injured defender Ben Davies. James Collins also withdrew from the squad through injury and has been replaced by MK Dons Joe Walsh. Wales Joe Ledley looks ahead to the match Nemanja Matic missed Serbias last game against Austria but is fit to return.ddddddddddddOpta statsWales have never beaten Serbia (including matches against Yugoslavia and also Serbia and Montenegro), losing eight of their 11 previous encounters (D3).Chris Colemans side have won eight and lost just one of their last 15 World Cup/Euro qualifiers (D6).Wales have lost only one of their last 12 matches on home soil (W6 D5) - losing 2-3 to Netherlands in November 2015. Watch NOW TV Watch Sky Sports for just ￡6.99. No contract. Chris Coleman has won five games in 2016; the only Wales manager to win more in a calendar year is John Toshack (six in 2008).Gareth Bale has had a hand in 14 goals in his last 13 appearances for Wales on home soil (10 goals, 4 assists). Gareth Bale will again be Wales key player Bale (25) is just three goals shy from becoming Wales joint-highest scorer alongside Ian Rush (28).Serbias Dusan Tadic has been directly involved in more goals in European World Cup 2018 Qualifiers than any other player so far (three goals, five assists). Serbia duo Dusan Tadic and Aleksandar Mitrovic will be key players on Saturday Charlie predictsIts a big bonus for Wales having Aaron Ramsey back. Anybody could see in the north London derby that his energy levels were great considering his injury problems.Serbia are difficult though. Theyre a strong, physical side that are dangerous on the counter-attack. Aleksandar Kolarov is their danger man going forward for me with his set-pieces.However, I think that Wales trio of Gareth Bale, who is in great form, Ramsey and Joe Allen, who is also doing well at Stoke, should see them through.Charlie predicts: 2-1 and Ramsey to score first (50/1 with Sky Bet) ' ' '