SEOUL, South Korea -- The first ice sports event to be held at Pyeongchang -- host of the 2018 Winter Olympics -- started on Friday with the 33rd KSU Short Track Speed Skating Championships.Construction of Gangneung Ice Arena, which will also host figure-skating in February 2018, was finished in December. There will be a total of six new venues in place.The completion of the ice venues is a meaningful step for Pyeongchang 2018, said Choi Moon-soon, Governer of Gangwon Province, home to Pyeongchang.After Pyeongchang 2018, they will be returned to the public and open doors for potential athletes and create new horizons for Gangneung residents.The World Cup leg, which sees qualification on Friday with competition on Saturday and Saturday across 10 individual or relay events, doubles as a test event for operational aspects of the arena.Almost 200 athletes from 31 countries, including three-time gold medal winner Charles Hamelin of Canada, are expected to compete over the weekend with organizers reporting that the 12,000 seater venue is over 90 percent sold-out.South Korea is a traditional power in speed-skating. Locals are cheering on Choi Min-jeong who hopes to widen her lead in the womens 1,000-meter standings.The arena will host the ISU Four Continents Figure Skating Championship in January. Womens Air Max Outlet . -- About a third of the way through the regular season, the Washington Wizards are at . Wholesale Air Max 95 . Olli Jokinen, Mark Scheifele, and Bryan Little each had a goal and an assist as Winnipeg won 5-2, handing Calgary its record-setting seventh consecutive loss on home ice. http://www.airmax2018outlet.us/ . -- The Bishops Gaiters are showing they belong among the countrys top varsity football teams. Black Air Max 90 . Fernandez, coached in Toronto by former two-time Olympic silver medallist Brian Orser, scored 267.11 points and is the first champion to successfully defend since Russias Evgeny Plushenko in 2005 and 2006. Cheap Air Max 90 . Jane Virtanen scored two, and Alex Roach and Elliott Peterson rounded out the offence for the Hitmen (40-15-6). Brady Brassart chipped in with three assists. Colton McCarthy scored twice, Brayden Point had a goal and two assists, and Jack Rodewald also scored for the Warriors (15-35-9), who were 2 for 5 on the power play. NBA commissioner Adam Silver sent an email to NBA corporate offices worldwide shortly after the presidential election results to reiterate to NBA employees that the leagues core values and commitment to equality and diversity havent changed, sources told ESPN.Sources said that Silvers email was not in any way making a statement about the election results. In the email, Silver assured NBA employees that the league and its players will continue to work in communities to try to find a way to improve lives with the understanding that the nation had just emerged divided from a contentious election, according to sources.One NBA player texted ESPN on Friday morning saying, Our country has never been more divided after Donald Trump was elected president this week.Sources said that there were staff meetings at NBA offices this week to allow employees to discuss the election.The NBA has long taken pride in being a socially conscious organization that is out front in dealing with issues in society: from accepting Jason Collins as the first openly gay player in one of the four major U.S. pro sports leagues to helping create awareness about HIV after Magic Johnsons announcement 25 years ago.Silver has repeatedly stressed that he is highly in favor of his players talking openly about and taking stands on social issues in a respectful manner and that there may be no organization in our society better positioned than the NBA to have an impact on todays social climate in the United States.On Wednesday night,?New York Knicks?forward?Carmelo Anthony, one of the star players who has been outspoken about issues like the Black Lives Matter movement, said he could sense a nervousness with his family and youth he had spoken to and that they were afraid and unsure of what to do after the election.Now it is our responsibility as men and women to take into our hands and be role models and be our own leaders at this point, regardless of who is the commander in chief, Anthony said after the Knicks beat the Nets on Wednesday night. I think we have much more responsibility now, especially with the youth and kind of educating them. I talked to kids, my family, you can just hear the nervousness, they are afraid and dont know what to thinnk and people dont know what to do at this point.dddddddddddd think it is up to us as individuals to kind of take on that responsibility and everybody has to lead in their own way. We cant rely on a system or one person and we got to move on from that.Anthony said his 9-year-old son had questions about the election and that he knew he would have to have a conversation with his son.What is that conversation? Anthony asked. That is the scary part for me -- what is that conversation?Coaches like Detroits Stan Van Gundy and Golden States Steve Kerr were critical and outspoken about the results of the election.I dont think anybody can deny this guy is openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic, Stan Van Gundy said earlier this week about Trump. We have just thrown a good part of our population under the bus, and I have problems with thinking this is where we are as a country.Clevelands Richard Jefferson also said on his Snapchat before the?Cavaliers visit to the White House on Thursday for winning last seasons championship that words cannot express the honor I feel being the last team to visit the White House tomorrow.Silver emphasized how important the NBAs responsibility is in continuing efforts to improve lives in communities around the country.The NBA has worked in tandem with the players association to organize community conversations that teams like the Knicks, Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans, Los Angeles Lakers and Detroit Pistons?have participated in that encouraged dialogue and cooperation with youth, law enforcement and community leaders in various cities over the past several months with more planned ahead.I have thought a lot about this, and [players association director] Michele Roberts and I talked a lot about these issues, Silver said, referring to the executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, at last months board of governors meeting. There may be no organization in our society better positioned than the NBA and its players to try and have an impact on these difficult issues plaguing many of our cities. ' ' '