PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- Pyeongchangs preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics are on course but South Korean organizers must step up efforts to promote the games worldwide, the head of the IOCs inspection team said Friday.Gunilla Lindberg, head of the International Olympic Committees coordination commission for the games, said her team was satisfied with the progress they saw in their latest three-day inspection visit.According to Pyeongchang organizers, construction is on schedule for a series of 26 test events scheduled from November to April. They said six new competition venues for the games are now 90 percent complete.We saw firsthand the progress of the construction projects, Lindberg said at a news conference. There is no doubt that the venues will be ready for the upcoming test events.My colleagues and I leave here more confident than ever that Pyeongchang 2018 will deliver great games, she added.The first test event will be a World Cup snowboard big air competition from Nov. 23-26. Snowboard big air will make its Olympic debut at the Pyeongchang Games.A new high-speed rail line -- designed to link the countrys main gateway of Incheon airport with Pyeongchang in less than two hours -- will be completed in June and start operations in January 2018.Lindberg said that the biggest challenge left for Pyeongchang is promoting the Olympics across the world.Pyeongchang, a sleepy ski resort town in South Koreas mountainous east, is a much smaller destination than Tokyo, which will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, and Beijing, which will host the 2022 Winter Games.The biggest challenge at the moment is ... how to promote the games over the world, because this is a small place. Its not Rio de Janeiro and its not London, said Lindberg, who added that the upcoming test events, which will be televised internationally, will be an important opportunity to promote the games and showcase the level of preparation.Another critical issue for Pyeongchang is securing the participation of National Hockey League players. IOC negotiations with the NHL have stalled over the IOCs decision not to pay for NHL players travel and insurance as it has in the past.NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly recently told The Associated Press he felt negative about the chances the leagues players will appear for a sixth straight Olympics in Pyeongchang.Christophe Dubi, the IOCs executive director of the Olympic Games, said NHL representatives have agreed to pay an inspection visit to Pyeongchang later this month, which he described as a very positive step.Dubi didnt offer a firm answer on whether the IOC would consider allowing the NHL to skip the Pyeongchang Games before returning for Beijing in 2022.We definitely always try to have the participation of the best athletes. It is reassuring that NHL is coming to Pyeongchang and especially look at the operations in Gangneung, he said.When it comes to the final participation ... there is a date set at Jan. 15 to find an agreement, Dubi said. Until then it will be work between all parties involved to make sure that we get the participation of the very best, and thats for both Pyeongchang and Beijing.The ice hockey tournament during the Pyeongchang Olympics will take place at a stadium in the nearby city of Gangneung.Lee Hee-beom, head of the local organizing committee, said ticket sales will be launched in conjunction with the 1-year-to-go countdown in February. Vapormax Plus Grigie . The 29-year-old from Port Colborne, Ont., has nothing but good things to say about former U.S. marine Liz (Girlrilla) Carmouche ahead of their co-main event Wednesday on the UFCs "Fight for the Troops" televised card in Fort Campbell, Ky. Vapormax Plus Saldi . Louis. To which I would say two things: 1. Where there is smoke, there is or perhaps has been a little fire. Or, in other words, the two teams would appear to have at least spoken. 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LONDON -- The joyful spirit from the 2012 London Games has gone from the Olympic Stadium, replaced instead by hatred and ugly skirmishes.West Hams new home, converted into a soccer stadium with the seats newly painted in the teams claret and blue colors, has been marred by violence this season as small mobs create a toxic atmosphere during matches.Further disorder erupted in the closing stages of Wednesdays game against Chelsea, with bottles, coins and seats hurled between rival fans and seven people arrested. Such unrest -- and far worse -- was a regular occurrence in the last century, but English authorities thought they had contained the problem.Football has become a better, more welcoming environment for a wider fan base, sports minister Tracey Crouch said Thursday. No one wants to see a return to the dark days of the late `70s and `80s. It is completely right that strong action is taken and that anyone involved in last nights trouble is banned for life.Later Thursday, West Ham and London Stadium said in a statement that they are finalizing the identification of 200 individuals who will receive stadium bans having been involved in incidents of disorder ranging from the use of abusive and offensive language to missile throwing.The statement added that rapid progress has been made thanks to extensive CCTV footage being shared between the two London clubs, the Metropolitan police and London Stadium partners.The cause of the disturbances, which Crouch called desperately sad, is perplexing authorities. Why should a club, which was renowned in the past for hooliganism, see a revival of a violent element of its fan base just by moving a few miles across east London from Upton Park?Security numbers were increased inside the stands and riot police stationed around the streets of Stratford for the visit of Chelsea. But there are problems segregating fans in a stadium that was not initially designed for soccer and had to be partially rebuilt after the Olympics to make it suitable for West Ham, which has a 99-year lease.Although Wednesdays game was a London derby, it was in Englands second-tier League Cup competition when weaker lineups are typically used by teams.dddddddddddd And beating Chelsea 2-1 to advance to the quarterfinals produced a rare bright moment this season.But a visiting Chelsea fan said he was hit by an object soon after Cheikhou Kouyate headed West Ham in front in the 11th minute.As soon as they scored there was abuse being hurled over and we were watching the game and all of a sudden I felt a massive thump on the side of my head, thinking it was a bottle or a stone, Steve Cutting said. I put my hand up to my head and realized Id been cut. I looked down and there were some coins, 50p (pence) and pound coins.The English Football Association has opened an investigation into the latest disturbances. The English Football League, the organizers of the League Cup, is working with the clubs and authorities to identify the perpetrators of the violence.West Ham was known for having an organized group of hostile supporters called the Inter City Firm, active mostly in the 1970s and `80s and at away games. The movie Green Street, released in 2005, was based on the group. Behavior among West Ham fans significantly improved in recent years, although there have been isolated incidents, including at the clubs last game at Upton Park in May when the Manchester United team bus was attacked.West Hams inability to shake off its harmful image of a small section of its fan base may hamper attempts to secure naming rights for its new stadium.Olympic Stadiums dont generally make great naming rights sponsors, Tim Crow, chief executive of sports marketing agency Synergy, said by telephone. Very few have attracted a naming rights sponsor and as a result London was up against it anyway.What last night and previous incidents have done is make it extremely unlikely we will see anything happening in the near future and maybe longer.---Rob Harris is at www.twitter.com/RobHarris and www.facebook.com/RobHarrisReports ' ' '