RIO DE JANEIRO -- The fans chant their names, wave their flags and do a little samba in their seats whenever the Brazilians take the sand at the Copacabana Olympic beach volleyball venue.If its a lot of pressure for the hometown teams, theyre handling it well.All four Brazilian teams advanced out of pool play at the Olympic tournament, and three won their first matches of the knockout round on Friday and Saturday. After a disappointing fourth-place finish as hosts of the soccer World Cup in 2014, Brazils other national sport has thrived on its hometown sand.It is not a pressure for us, said Barbara, a Rio native, who with her partner Agatha beat China on Friday to reach the quarterfinals. We are living the dream now. Inside our hearts is joy.Beach volleyball is a passion in Brazil, as much a recreational sport on the Copacabana shore as soccer or surfing or sunbathing. And that has led to Olympic success, with the country winning 11 of 30 total medals since the sport was added to the Summer Games in 1996.So dominant were the Brazilians -- and Americans, who have claimed nine medals -- that quotas were created to limit each country to two entries (per gender) in the Olympics.And when Rio de Janeiro won the rights to host the 2016 Olympics, it was only natural that the beach volleyball venue would be on Copacabana.I fell so lucky, so honored, as a first-time Olympian to be here in my home, Barbara said. I am so proud to be a part of this Olympic year at home.The fans appear to enjoy it, too.With green and yellow shirts filling the stands and Brazilian music wafting over the security barriers onto Copacabana beach beyond, the Olympic venue has been shaking at times with the cheers for the four hometown teams.Agatha and Barbara were the first to reach the quarterfinals, followed later on Friday by the defending world champions Talita and Larissa. Alison and Bruno reached the round of 8 by beating Spain on Saturday, and the party was only slightly spoiled when the No. 2 mens team, Pedro and Evandro, lost to Russia.Still, the crowd gave the Brazilians a standing ovation on their way off the court, though part of the crowd was certainly acknowledging the 21-16, 14-21, 15-10 victory by Russia as well.Here on Copacabana, they know how to play, Russias Nikita Liamin said. They know the good play, and they know how it is done.Two-time Olympian Ana Paula, who is working with the stadium entertainment crew in Rio, agreed. At one break in the match, she introduced American Randy Stoklos, a five-time world champion and volleyball hall of famer who played before the sport was added to the Olympics.We might have built this stadium, but the Brazilians really made this sport, he said to a huge cheer.All of the Brazilians knew who he was, Ana Paula said. Its because Brazil really, really loves beach volleyball. Its because volleyball -- its been in our DNA.Ana Paula said she thinks volleyball and beach volleyball have even surpassed soccer in her homeland -- in part because of the soccer teams much-lamented 7-1 loss in the World Cup semifinals. We dont talk about the World Cup, she said with a smile.By contrast, the beach volleyball players seem to be thriving under pressure.I dont think we are going to see anything like that in volleyball, said Bruno, whose uncle Oscar Schmidt is a basketball Hall of Famer and one of Brazils most celebrated athletes. The crowd is so happy, so full of happy people.And thats been a boost for all of the players -- even Brazils opponents.Spains Elsa Baquerizo and Liliana Fernandez said they were excited when the pools were drawn and they knew they would be playing Agatha and Barbara.At the beginning, I felt like, `Oh, my God. The whole stadium is going to fall down on me, Liliana said after beating the Brazilians. But we wanted to play them on Copacabana.The Spaniards had already clinched a spot in the knockout round, so they didnt feel the full pressure of 12,000 fans rooting against them.When Germanys Britta Buthe and Karla Borger drew defending world champions Talita and Larissa in the playoff round of 16, their coaches tried to cheer them up.Everyone was saying, `Oh, its such a tough draw for you guys. But we were really excited, Buthe said after the Brazilians eliminated them in straight sets.We would have liked it if we would have played for it and won. We werent able to experience it, she said. But still I think this is one of our best memories, even if it did end. Mike Gillislee Jersey . Despite the cost, effort and an improved steroid test, its possible that very few -- if any -- positives will be detected, Dr. Richard Budgett told The Associated Press in an interview. "We just dont know what the results from Torino will be," Budgett said. Julian Edelman Jersey . 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TSM, TSM, TSM! chanted one man in TSM apparel as he entered the building. The implications of and interest in the titanic clash prompted Riot to move the match from the smaller Battle Theater to the main arena where more fans could watch live. It promised to be a match to remember.In a season where surprises have been minimal, there was a certain excitement about TSM and Immortals. TSM had been having a perfect season up until its loss to Phoenix1 the week prior in the upset of the split, and Immortals were the reigning regular season champions, attempting to defend their crown by beating the only club that bested them this season. Would TSM conquer Immortals again or could Immortals take advantage of the cracks revealed in TSMs armor?After two relatively competitive maps, the first being a barn burner to the very end, the word PENTAKILL! rang out to signal the close of a regular season matchup that had the aura of a regional final. Yiliang Doublelift Peng capped off an impressive individual series with the pentakill to help TSM take the match in straight sets, and by doing so, also clinched the regular season title for the three-time champions of the North American premier league. For the second time this split, it was SoloMid who came out the victor in the faceoff between the leagues two Worlds hopefuls.We just made a ton of mistakes, so we deserved to lose, said Immortals Kim Reignover Ui-jin, the reigning MVP of the league. I dont know why, but I feel like we played worse than usual, so Im kinda sad we couldnt pull off our chance.It was a constant series of missed opportunities for the now former regular season kings. Overaggression was the name of the game from both sides in the match; alas, while TSM was able to maneuver masterfully around its shortcomings to continue putting on the pressure, Immortals would continually take one giant step forward before taking two equal steps back. The same minuscule openings Immortals had gotten away with against teams like Echo Fox were capitalized upon and ripped apart when facing TSM.I dont expect to get [MVP] again since I got it last season, so probably someone from TSM, Reignover said, mulling over which player hed give the Most Valuable Player award to this split.dddddddddddd Seems like [S?ren Bjergsen Bjerg] and Doublelift are playing really well right now, so maybe its going to be one of them.Immortals, undoubtedly the second best NA team currently behind TSM, are mirrored by the ROX Tigers in Korea. Both the Tigers and Immortals have shown time and time again they can rampage through the competition in the regular season, but they always come up short in the postseason against their main rivals SK Telecom T1 and TSM, respectively. The Tigers fell to SKT T1 in the finals following a regular season where T1 struggled and ROX came out on top. And Immortals fell to TSM in the semifinals after a regular season where Immortals waltzed to the first-place spot, and TSM barely scraped into the playoffs.In the Immortals NA LCS history, they have an astonishingly dominant 48-6 record against any team that doesnt have the initials TSM. When playing against TSM, however, Immortals have an overall record of 3-7, and have lost seven of their last eight games against the new regular season champs.Maybe in playoffs well work a little bit harder, Reignover said, discussing how his team needed to learn how to play a bit less overzealously, and how he on his own needed to find the correct balance between greed and safety. But we shouldnt overwork because its going to burn out the players, so were just going to be more [focused and] serious about it.The laid back and free-flowing nature of Immortals with their potent, flashy offense has become their identity over the past year and has led them to great success; yet, staring down an opponent they seemingly cant overcome, the team will need to take the next step in its evolution as a starting five.Up until now, it has been enough to be one of the best teams in the West. But now, to become North American champions and lock down a place at Worlds, there needs to be progress. With a possible TSM rematch in the finals merely a month away, it needs to come sooner rather than later. Cheap Nike NFL Jerseys China Jerseys China Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys 2020 China Jerseys Wholesale China Jerseys Jerseys NFL China ' ' '