large governing bodies. Their allocations will be announced in February.B

Ahead of the French Open, we asked Sky Sports expert Barry Cowan to answer five key questions about this years tournament at Roland Garros. World No 1 Novak Djokovic resumes his pursuit for that elusive first Grand Slam title as part of a fiercely competitive draw in Paris, including Britains Andy Murray, nine-time winner Rafael Nadal, and defending champion Stan Wawrinka.Barry Cowan answers the big talking points... Murrays Roland Garros record A look at how the British number one has fared in Paris Will Andy Murray be happy with the draw?The key was always going to be where Rafa was. Its great news for Andy that Rafa will not be in his side of the draw, but I think its also great news for Djokovic that Nadal will be in his side. Meeting Rafa before the final would work out in his favour, I believe.The rankings dont lie. Andy is the second best player in the world at the moment and hes shown that with his performances on the clay in the past few weeks.Wawrinka is an unknown quantity. We didnt know which Wawrinka would turn up last year - he was in no form going in - and look what happened. I think Rogers days of winning the French are gone. Its a real pity that his run of Grand Slam appearances should end due to injury, but it was going to end at some stage. French Open draw details Stepanek first for Murray Can Murray take positives from recent wins over Djokovic and Nadal?Yes, absolutely. He can obviously draw confidence from last weeks win over Novak in Rome, but could also take huge positives from the way he played Novak in Madrid and Rafa in Monte Carlo. He has consistently played great tennis, but hes going into the French Open having never made the final. It would be an all-new experience, but hes been able to pass new experiences throughout his career. Why not this time? Highlights from the Rome Masters Final as Andy Murray faced Novak Djokovic in a repeat of the Madrid Open final a week earlier Will Novak Djokovic end his wait for a French Open title? Djokovics Missing Major Can Novak finally win at Roland Garros? Yes, it think he can do. Hes a better player than he was last year, but theres more mental baggage than last year. He had to experience that final defeat to Wawrinka when he was the best player in the world and wasnt able to win it. No matter what sport it is, whenever you go in as favourite and dont get over the finish line, it can get harder.I think its good that he plays Rafa before the final. Playing Rafa in the semis, its playing Rafa with their recent head-to-head record. Playing Rafa in the final, all of a sudden it becomes a huge monster, because youre playing against a guy who has won it nine times and Novak has never won it. Djokovic has yet to win the French OPen title Can Nadal win the tournament for a 10th time? Nadals La Decima Rafa in form as he seeks another French crown You can never overlook a guy who has won it nine times. Hes playing great. I thought that quarter-final against Djokovic in Rome was amazing quality, it was phenomenal. The only difference between the two was Djokovic having won so many big titles in recent years, whereas Rafa hasnt really.His last few appearances at Grand Slam havent been great, so hell be looking to put the record straight on that. But hes in as good shape as hes been in a long time.The weather also could be key as if its quick in the second week, then that will definitely help him.Who could emerge as a surprise contender? Nick Kyrgios is one of the names who could surprise the big guns Two weeks ago, I would have said Dominic Thiem. He defeated Roger Federer and looked set to make a breakthrough at the Rome Masters, but the occasion got to him in the quarter-final and he was beaten easily by Kei Nishikori. Ive got no doubt that he will be a player who reaches the latter stages of a major tournament in the future. There is also Nick Kygrios of course. You cannot rule this guy out and he could break through and win a slam at some stage. Im not going to say its going to be these two weeks, but hes a player who can beat anyone on any given day. Outsiders assessed The surprise names to keep in mind Also See: Mens first round draw details Womens first round draw Djokovics missing major Nadals La Decima Chuck Bednarik Jersey . 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. Nick Foles Jersey . But what about the officials? Every sport has officials and they also have stories about hard work and sacrifice but their accomplishments are seldom recognized by anyone outside their inner circle. http://www.cheapeaglesjerseysauthentic.com/?tag=authentic-seth-joyner-jersey . Dukurs winning time was 1 minute, 45.76 seconds, a quarter-second better than Russias Alexander Tretiakov. 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The Cincinnati Reds remain perfect with their speedy rookie outfielder in the starting lineup. ?Sport Englands strategy for getting the country more active is taking shape after it announced ￡90million in grass-roots funding for 26 national governing bodies to spend on coaching, competitions and facilities.The government agency has ￡1billion to invest over the next four years, similar to the sum it had for 2013-17, with about three-quarters of this sum coming from the National Lottery and the rest from the public purse.The investments announced on Friday are targeted at sports core market -- the 14.9million adults in England who play regular sport -- and include ￡17.3million for British Cycling, ￡9million for England Hockey, ￡8.3million for British Gymnastics and ￡7.6million for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).British Cycling wants to invest more in traffic-free festivals and a campaign to encourage families to ride together; England Hockey is interested in quicker, small-sided versions of the game; British Gymnastics will invest in the surge in demand for high-quality coaching; and the ECB will focus on 20-over formats, the womens game and getting more south Asians into club cricket.But these Sport England decisions actually represent a significant decrease -- ￡13million -- in the sum allocated to British Cycling, and small decreases for the others, but Sport Englands director of sport Phil Smith believes this is a reflection of the agencys new focus on the unsporty, as well as national governing bodies maturity. Smith told Press Association Sport: Take cricket, for example -- it made a compelling case for funding its core market and supporting talent.But it knows it is unlikely to be the answer for the mass market or inactive sectors -- it would be tough to get people doing nothing into cricket clubs in one leap -- so the ECB focused on the customers it knows best.British Cycling is another example of a governing body that is trying to become less dependent on public funding, which is what we want to encourage, and I think the application it made to us was a sign of a maturee and well-run organisation.ddddddddddddSmith explained that British Cyclings recent sponsorship deal with HSBC now made it more like football, rugby union and tennis in terms of its ability to fund its own initiatives but added that the Manchester-based organisation has not yet applied for Sport England money targeted at the inactive and may do so next year.In a British Cycling statement, the governing bodys president Bob Howden welcomed the fantastic news and thanked Sport England and the National Lottery for their continued backing.The sustainability of our work at the grass-roots has long been a key priority for us and we are becoming less reliant on public money thanks to the support of our commercial partners, said Howden.Missing from Fridays tranche of funding are the Amateur Swimming Association, the Football Association, the Lawn Tennis Association, the Rugby Football Union and several other large governing bodies. Their allocations will be announced in February.But with the government now determined to shift Sport Englands funding away from those already playing sport to those who do no exercise at all, 2017 will see large sums of money allocated to charities, county sports partnerships, local authorities and even commercial organisations that are better suited to reaching those people than traditional sports organisations.We have said loud and clear that we are trying to reduce the subsidy for the core market, said Smith.That does not mean we are taking those people for granted or we are ignoring sports that do not have the numbers or commercial offer that the big sports have. But we probably have over-emphasised sport for the sporty in recent years.And this means a more audience-led, customer-first approach - good governing bodies know their customers really well but they dont know people who dont play sport. That is where other organisations can help. ' ' '