James Wade is happy to remain the forgotten man of the Premier League as he attempts to snatch a place in the season-ending play-offs. The 2009 champion sits in fifth place in the Premier League table ahead of tonights matches in Belfast, live on Sky Sports.Only leg difference separates Wade from the play-off positions and he has acquired six wins, the same number as Michael Van Gerwen, who The Machine defeated on the opening day of the campaign. But Wade is still ranked sixth by the bookies in the list of possible winners and admits he does not mind being overlooked as a serious title threat.When I won tournaments, no-one ever talked about me either, so it makes no difference to me really, he told Sky Sports. Ive got no pressure because I get overlooked and no-one expects it from me. If anything, its quite nice. James Wade You have got players who are raved and ranted about being second favourite for a tournament and some of them havent even won one. It takes a lot to win the first one. That first one is the hardest one.To be put below in the expectations for the betting, I quite like it if that makes sense, because it takes the pressure off me. Ive got no pressure because I get overlooked and no-one expects it from me. If anything, its quite nice.Years ago, it used to really bother me. But you get used to certain things and every player has got their own perceived character, their own judgement by the crowd, and by the bookmakers. Ive got mine and other people have got theirs. Its pantomime, but its real. It isnt pantomime. James Wade completed a sizzling 161 checkout on the bullseye in his match against Dave Chisnall Asked if he will receive credit for reaching the last night at The O2, he said: Probably not really, but if I can get there, thats the hard bit.Only if I lift the trophy and say hows that! Michael van Gerwen has replaced Phil Taylor as the sports top player World No 1 Van Gerwen has been forced to shoulder the burden of expectation after replacing Phil Taylor as the sports top player and Wade feels he is unfairly likened to the 16-time world champion.Its a long time to continue being the worlds best player. Hes done if for a year to 18 months. Longer than I thought he would, said Wade.Unfortunately, although he is the greatest player in the world at the moment, its sad that hes always going to be compared to Phil. Studd: Wades wonderful five Rodd Studd picks out five memorable wins by The Machine Its a shame really. No matter what player becomes world No 1 and wins a lot of titles, they are always going to be compared to Phil, until someone wins, I think 77 or 78 TV majors. Its not going to happen.The reason why Phil did that, is because the field wasnt as strong back then. Years ago he had one or two rivals and those one or two rivals werent as good as him anyway. Now everyone can raise that 100, 105 average. The Machine expects a thrilling end to the season Wade will stay firmly in contention with a win over Adrian Lewis tonight and is relishing the chance to upset the odds in the closing weeks of the campaign.Its good this year that there is a lot of people in the run-in, he said. Its good for the viewers and good for the players as well. No-one has run away with it, like previous winners.Phil is not that far away from everyone and most are round about the 13-point mark. Anything can happen between now and the end, anything. Watch all of the Premier League action from night 11 in Belfast, starting at 7pm on Sky Sports 1. Also See: Mardles PL predictions Sky Live: PL darts MVG: Nothing to prove How to beat Van Gerwen 6-0 Nike VaporMax Utility Nere Uomo . -- Ryan Getzlaf grabbed the three pucks wrapped in tape and held them up to his chest in the Anaheim Ducks dressing room for a celebration nine seasons in the making. Nike Vapormax Comme Des Garcons Shop . LOUIS -- Alexander Steen scored a power-play goal with 59. http://www.vapormaxplus.it/vapormax-rosse.html . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff. Vapormax Plus Bianche . - Blake Griffin had 30 points and 12 rebounds, J. Uomo Nike VaporMax Plus Grigie Nere . -- Charlie Graham stopped 67 shots as the Belleville Bulls edged the visiting Guelph Storm 6-5 on Saturday in Ontario Hockey League action. RIO DE JANEIRO -- With fireworks forming the word Rio in the sky and supermodel Gisele Bundchen shimmering to the tune of The Girl From Ipanema, Rio de Janiero jubilantly welcomed the world Friday to the first Olympic Games in South America.After one of the roughest-ever rides from vote to Games by an Olympic host, the city of beaches, carnival, grinding poverty and sun-kissed wealth opened the two-week Games of the 31st Olympiad with a high-energy gala celebration of Brazils can-do spirit, biodiversity and melting pot history.The low-tech, cut-price opening ceremony, a moment of levity for a nation beset by economic and political woes, featured performers as slaves, gravity-defying climbers hanging from buildings in Brazils teeming megacities and -- of course -- dancers, all hips and wobble, grooving to thumping funk and sultry samba.Brazil also packaged its party with solemnity, lacing the fun and frivolous show with sobering messages about global warming and conservation. Images of carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, swirling in the Earths atmosphere were followed by projections of world cities and regions -- Amsterdam, Florida, Shanghai, Dubai -- being swamped by rising seas.The peace symbol, tweaked into the shape of a tree, was projected onto the floor of the Maracana Stadium that filled with thousands of athletes from 207 teams.The heat is melting the ice cap, a voice intoned. Its disappearing very quickly.The crowd roared when Bundchen, the Brazilian supermodel?and wife of?New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady,?sashayed from one side of the 78,000-seat Maracana Stadium to the other as Tom Jobims grandson, Daniel, played his?grandfathers famous song about the Ipanema girl tall and tan and young and lovely.In a video preceding the show, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the Games celebrate the best of humanity and appealed for an Olympic truce, calling on all warring parties to lay down their weapons during the two weeks of sporting achievement.There were times after the International Olympic Committee selected Rio ahead of Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid in 2009 when it seemed that the city of 6.5 million people might not get its act together for the worlds greatest sporting mega-event. The spreading health crisis of the mosquito-born Zika virus kept some athletes away.Promises to clean Rios filthy waters remained unfulfilled. The heavy bill for the Games, at least $12 billion, made them unpopular with many. Heavily armed security stopped a small group of protesters from getting close to the stadium ahead of the ceremony.But with more than a dash of gambiarra, the Brazilian art of quick-fixes and making do, Rio is ready.Our admiration is even greater because you managed this at a very difficult time in Brazilian history. We have always believed in you, IOC president Thomas Bach said.The honor of officially declaring the Games open fell to Michel Temer, Brazils unpopular interim president, who was loudly jeered and faced shouts of out with Temer. He was standing in for suspended President Dilma Rousseff. Her ouster less than four months before the Games for alleged budget violations was one of many obstacles in the works of Brazils Olympic preparations, and it impacted the opening ceremony itself.?Fewer than 25 foreign heads of state were expected, with others seemingly staying away to avoid giving the impression of taking sides amid Brazils leadership uncertainty. As Brazilian officials took their seats in the stadium, there were shouts of out with Temer from sections of the crowd.Jamaicas Usain Bolt, the two-time defending champion in the Olympic 100- and 200-meter races, skipped the ceremony, as expected. Bolt announced his decision earlier in the day. Friday was the fourth anniversary of Bolts winnning the gold in the 100 at the London Games.ddddddddddddAlso missing was 75-year-old Brazilian soccer great Pele, who announced earlier Friday that he was not physically able to attend the opening of the Olympics. He had previously said this week that he had been invited to light the cauldron, although that was not confirmed by Rio organizers.Instead, the cannonball-shaped cauldron was lit by Brazilian marathoner Vanderlei Cordeiro de Lima. At the 2004 Games, an Irish spectator wearing a kilt, knee-socks and a beret tackled de Lima while he was leading the Olympic marathon. Rather than gold, he fell back to take bronze.Greece, the historic and spiritual home of the Games, led the march by athletes into the stadium. They were joined by the first Refugee Olympic Team of 10 athletes displaced from Syria, South Sudan, Congo and Ethiopia. Their flag-bearer, Rose Nathike Lokonyen, fled war in South Sudan and ran her first race in a refugee camp in northern Kenya. Only Brazils team, which marched last, drew a louder roar from the crowd than the refugees.The athletes were given tree seeds, plus cartridges of soil. When the trees sprout, they will be planted in a Rio park.With USA emblazoned on the back of his jacket, Michael Phelps carried the flag for the U.S. team, the largest with 549 competitors. At his fifth Olympics, it was the first time the record-holder of 22 medals had marched in an opening ceremony, having skipped previous ones to save energy for competition.On behalf of all 11,288 competitors (6,182 men and 5,106 women), Brazilian two-time Olympic champion sailor Robert Scheidt pledged not to take banned drugs -- an oath likely to ring false to fans after the scandal of government-orchestrated cheating in Russia. As a consequence, Russias team was whittled down from a hoped-for 389 athletes to around 270.Iran picked a woman, archer Zahra Nemati, as flag-bearer for its team made up overwhelmingly of men. Another woman pushed Nematis wheelchair. The archer was paralyzed in a car accident as a teenager.Shoals of samba dancers flowed in a rainbow of colors, but many showed less flesh than normal for Brazil, seemingly mindful of their global TV audience.After the grandeur of Beijings opening ceremony in 2008 and the high-tech, cheeky inventiveness of Londons in 2012, Rios was earthier and less swish but more sobering with its gloomy environmental look at the future and deliberate penny-pinching. Creative director Fernando Meirelles said the budget, slashed by half as Brazils economic recession bit ever harder, is 12 times less than London, 20 times less than Beijing.It is pretty tacky to be overspending, he said. It is not a good message for the world. When 40 percent of the homes in Brazil have no sanitation, you cant really be spending a billion reals for a show. In the end, I feel good that I am not spending money that Brazil hasnt got.In the U.S., NBC faced social media criticism for its decision to delay the broadcast of the ceremony so it could be shown in prime time in all time zones. Frequent commercial breaks, including eight in the first 65 minutes, also proved frustrating for time-shifting viewers accustomed to fast-forwarding through ads.NBC began its telecasting of the festivities an hour after they begin in Rio on Friday. On the U.S. West Coast, the telecast of the opening ceremony wasnt set to start for another hour. NBC didnt start streaming the event through its app or Olympics website until the television coverage began, and streamers had to authenticate their account with a cable or satellite service.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. ' ' '