on Clarke, then on the Orica-GreenEDGE team (now Orica-BikeExchange), n

Multigame esports organization Luminosity has entered the dynamic fighting game community with the acquisition of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U player Yuta Abadango Kawamura.Announced during The Big House 6 in Dearborn, Michigan, Abadango is now part of a quickly growing list of top-10 players who have recently been signed by sponsors.NEWS: @Luminosity signs SSB4 player @LG_Abadango! Read More: https://t.co/312tzFm5Vh#GOLG #SSB4 #LGLOYAL #FGC pic.twitter.com/fS2FbLlqLm- Luminosity Gaming (@Luminosity) October 8, 2016Currently ranked fifth in the Panda Global rankings, Abadango is considered the best Mewtwo and Pacman player in the world. However, due to Japans strict laws prohibiting prize money from being distributed at tournaments, it has been difficult for him to invest more time into his career. Joining Luminosity should help offset some of those burdens.Luminosity has its hands in many different games, but is most known for its prowess in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. And while the fighting game audience is smaller than that of shooters and MOBAs like League of Legends, Luminosity Gamings CEO Steve Buyaka Maida thought it was still a scene worth jumping into.The FGC community made us want to get involved. Its incredibly passionate and engaging - unlike any other community, Buyaka told ESPN. Buyaka also saw something special in Japans top Smash 4 player. The players [and] personalities involved in Smash are quite adoptable and we believe our fan base will take kindly to a genuine, humble talent like Abadango.Luminosity is based in Los Angeles, which presents some challenges when sponsoring a player overseas.The difficulties would be what you might expect - language barrier and expensive travel. Fortunately we are in a position to offer Abadango the resources to travel more and have staff to translate for us, says Buyaka.This year, fans have been able to see Abadango compete often in multiple large US tournaments like Clutch City Clash, thanks to community support through crowdfunding efforts. Abadangos aggressive playstyle with Mewtwo makes his matches incredibly enjoyable to watch. But now that Abadango has the backing of Luminosity, it should mean even more opportunities to attend US events.Contractually we cover the large events but weve given him a competitive salary with the understanding that if he wants to attend smaller events that he has the freedom to pick and choose, says Buyaka.Luminosity is also keeping its ear to the ground for other potential FGC pickups. Its very early days for us in Smash. We are just getting our feet wet, the CEO commented.Fighting games have seen a strong surge of interest in recent years. Super Smash Bros. specifically saw a renaissance thanks to 2013s documentary series on YouTube, The Smash Brothers. Capcom and PlayStation have also been heavily investing in Street Fighter V. This past summer, the Street Fighter V Evolution 2016 championships were aired on ESPN2.As for Luminosity and Buyaka: I anticipate our interest and investment [in fighting games] will only continue to grow. NMD R1 Sale Australia . -- Tony Stewart is 20 pounds lighter and has a titanium rod in his surgically repaired right leg. Ultra Boost Australia Sale . Spiller left Week 3s 27-20 loss to the New York Jets with a thigh injury, but fully practiced with the team all week and expects to be ready to go on Sunday. http://www.nmdaustraliasale.com/ . As he recorded his 23rd and 24th points of the evening, a segment of the sellout Air Canada Centre crowd expressed their appreciation for the Raptors point guard with a smattering of MVP chants. NMD R1 Primeknit Australia . -- Washington Redskins tight end Fred Davis was charged Thursday with driving while intoxicated, a day after he was suspended for an NFL substance-abuse policy violation. NMD Buy Australia .S. Open champion Justin Rose birdied the first hole with a blind shot he hit to a foot of the pin, and he stayed in front Tuesday until he completed a 4-under 67 for a two-shot lead over Jason Dufner in PGA Grand Slam of Golf. CHERBOURG-EN-COTENTIN, France -- Five years ago, Alberto Contador and Richie Porte were bound as teammates in the Tour de France. But the now rival riders have once again found themselves joined in the worlds biggest bike race, yet not by choice, but as two of the initial big favourites for this years race who are already on the back foot after a disastrous second stage in Normandy on Sunday.Contador (Tinkoff), 33, and Porte (BMC), 31, who rode together on the Saxo team [now Tinkoff] in the 2011 Tour, are now both more than one minute behind the new overall race leader, Slovakian world champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff), 26. Sagan claimed the leaders yellow jersey from the Stage 1 winner Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data), 31, by winning Sundays tough 183-kilometer second stage from Saint L? to Cherbourg-en-Contentin.Many other riders lost time in the stage that finished uphill, including Welshman Geraint Thomas (Sky). But Contador and Porte were the two highest profile losers of the day after seeing their race cruelled by the misfortune of a crash and rear tire puncture, respectively.Both will do well to remember that Colombian Nairo Quintana (Movistar) lost 1:28 to Tour winner Chris Froome (Sky) in Stage 2 of last years Tour, and 1:04 in Stage 10 in before finishing second overall at 1:20.All but two of the other main favourites for this years Tour are at 14 seconds to Sagan -- Froome, who is in fifth place, Quintana seventh, Irishman Dan Martin (Etixx-QuickStep) 10th, Italian Fabio Aru (Astana) in 11th, Frenchman Romain Bardet (Ag2r) in 17th, and American Tejay van Garderen in 18th. Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) is 28th at 25 seconds and Frenchman Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) is 31st at the same time.Going into Stage 3, a 223.5km trek from Grandville to Angers, Sagan leads overall by eight seconds on Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (FDJ) and 10 seconds on Spaniard Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who finished second and third behind him on Sunday.For Contador, his demise was due to his second crash in as many days with 120km to go. Frenchman Warren Bargueil (Giant-Alpacin), Germans Marcel Kittel (Etixx-QuickStep) and Tony Martin (Etixx-QuickStep), Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha), and Australian Michael Matthews (Orica-BikeExchange) were also fell Sunday.Worse for Contador, he landed on his left side, which impaired his ability to stay with the overall contenders on the hilly finish when the peloton he had been in was reeling in the remaining breakaway riders one by one all the way to the finish.Contador finished 61st at 48 seconds and is now 62nd overall at 1:02 to Sagan.I lost time that I didnt want to lose, Contador said after the stage. I crashed again, and it left my other side banged up, as well. I tried to minimize the maximum amount of time I lost.Contador remained defiant from the corner he has found himself in, saying: Cycling is like that, and the Tour is unfolding like that for me. Physically, its a setback. I cannot pedal like I want to. Nevertheless, I know thats a consequence of my falls. I want to maintain a high morale. I am still standing, but I am bangedd up.ddddddddddddAt least Peter [Sagan] won for the team today.Meanwhile, for Porte, his grief was caused by a rear tire puncture inside the last five kilometres, and on a descent when well-placed on second wheel while the peloton was close to catching the final breakaway riders.Since it was so late in the race, his team car could not get to him to change his wheel, as it was caught behind so many riders who were already dropped. And while the neutral service that attended to Porte took an extraordinary amount of time to attend him, there was no chance of him ever catching the speedy peloton before the finish.With the assistance of three teammates -- German Marcus Burghardt, Frenchman Amael Moinard and Italian Damiano Caruso, -- all Porte could do was limit his losses, which amounted to 1:45 at the finish. Porte is now 81st overall at 1:59 behind Sagan, who, despite his class, is not a rider who threatens to win the Tour overall.After returning to the BMC team bus, Porte spent only a few minutes inside to gather himself before speaking to the media, saying: It was a disaster, but what can you do? You are sitting second wheel in perfect position and I dont know what the hell I hit. But next thing, the rear tire went down. We are going that fast, there is not much you can do in terms of the bike change. By the time Burghardt got back to me, the bunch was gone.Porte said he is still determined to make good of what opportunities now come in the 21-stage Tour, as his team hopes of a podium finish for van Garderen.The Tour is far from over, Porte said. It is quite a hard one to take, but at the end of the day, I guess we just try and pretend it never happened and wait for the mountains to come.Porte was pressed on his history of bad luck, such as last years Giro dItalia, where he was penalised two minutes for receiving a wheel change from fellow Australian Simon Clarke, then on the Orica-GreenEDGE team (now Orica-BikeExchange), not knowing it was illegal.It is kind of like last year in the Giro minus the two minutes, he said. But it probably would have been quicker to take the two-minute penalty than the wheel change I got. But at the end of the day it is only a bike race isnt it? Im sure the sun will come up tomorrow.Told that the Tour is the bike race, Porte replied: Yeah, I guess it is. It is far from over ... maybe in the third week, if we keep it all together, I might be able to go after a stage, too.While Portes time loss would indicate that van Garderen will be BMCs leader now, the American said the team would still continue with a two-pronged attack.The Tour is a marathon. Richie hopefully is able to stay strong in his head and keep fighting, van Garderen said. Were co-leaders. Anything can happen, you know. We saw Contador lost time today, and crashed yesterday, Richie lost time today.Any one of these next 19 days could be my turn for bad luck. So we gotta keep Richie strong and focused, and give him a little morale boost tonight. ' ' '