Canada will have home-court advantage in its bid to stay among the worlds best tennis countries. Canada will host Colombia in a Sept. 12-14 tie, with the winner starting Davis Cup play in the World Group next year. The location of the best-of-five competition has yet to be announced, but hosting the tie is a definite advantage for Canada, says the team captain. "The number one thing I think we were hoping for was to play at home," Martin Larendeau said Tuesday on a conference call. "Weve seen over the last few years when we play at home, our odds increase dramatically." Canada beat both Spain and Italy indoors in Vancouver last year to reach the semifinals for the first time in history before bowing out to Serbia. The Davis Cup, founded in 1900, is the touted as the largest annual international team competition in sport with 122 countries participating in 2014. A tie consists of two singles matches on the first day, a doubles match on Day 2 and concludes with a pair of singles matches on the third day. The ascension of Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., and Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver in mens singles, as well as the work of tireless and decorated doubles veteran Daniel Nestor of Toronto, turned Canada into a consistent Davis Cup threat in recent years. Canada started this years Davis Cup in the World Group for a third straight year. Beset by injuries, however, Canada lost 4-1 to Japan in Tokyo in February. Raonic and Pospisil didnt play at all and Frank Dancevic of Niagara Falls, Ont., retired in the second set of a singles match on the final day because of a stomach injury. So Japan advanced to the quarter-finals, while Canada must win the playoff versus Colombia to start 2015 in the World Group again. Canada fell 4-1 to Colombia in Bogota the last time the two countries met in 2010. Because that tie was played on the road, its Canadas turn to host the South Americans. The Canadians need to leverage a friendly, familiar venue into a victory, lest they drop into Americas Group 1 qualifying matches next year. "I dont think anybody wants to go back to Group 1, where we would have to face a lot of South Americans teams and away ties and stuff," Larendeau said. "We have to make the most of this window to play a South American team at home. Everyone is keen on us staying in the World Group. "Our reference for us is going to be the matches last February and last April when we played at home. I think its going to bring a lot of good feelings back to play at home and hopefully that will put the guys in a productive frame of mind." Tennis Canada will announce the location at a later date. Larendeau says he and the athletes will have some input into the location, but not the final say. "The good thing about playing in September is we have options to play indoors or outdoors. Its something we dont have when we play in February or even April," the Laurendeau said. "We need the players feedback to see how they think theyre going to match up in altitude, sea level, indoors, outdoors. The players and myself have a bit of a say on where wed like to play, but it doesnt come down to that. "Theres executive decisions and theres also a marketplace, theres also promoting the game in cities or in areas that are not able to see a lot of tennis. Theres a lot of factors that go in, but our job is to come up to the board of directors and president and say these are the conditions wed like to play in and lets work on the venue now." Vancouver, Toronto, Calgary and Montreal are previous Canadian host cities of World Group ties. Canada is seeded No. 8, while Colombia is ranked No. 26 in Davis Cup. Raonic is currently No. 11 in ATP mens singles and Pospisil is 28th. Colombia doesnt have a singles player in the worlds top 50, but the doubles team of Juan-Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah is formidable. That duo lost the final of last months Sony Open to world No. 1 Bob and Mike Bryan of the U.S. "I think Colombia is a very tough team," Larendeau said. "They have a lot of depth, they have an excellent doubles team and they have a lot of experience in singles play." Air Max Plus 97 Cheap . There were no real chances until Augsburg broke the deadlock through Raul Bobadilla in the 33rd minute. Frankfurt failed to clear a cross and Bobadilla slotted home from close range at the far post. Air Max Plus Tn Blue .C. -- Unable to get much lift off his sore right ankle, Bobcats centre Al Jefferson figured it was time to make an adjustment. http://www.airmaxplusstoresale.com/air-m...s-tn-cheap.html. Cleveland released the troubled wide receiver on Wednesday, an expected ending after Bess was arrested in January for assaulting a law enforcement officer at an airport and other bizarre behaviour. Air Max Plus 97 Sale . The third-seeded Bouchard, from Westmount, Que., was coming off a semifinal appearance at the French Open. She took the opening set before the unseeded American came back for the 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory. Air Max Plus Cheap . - The Oakland Athletics say they are stopping negotiations to extend their lease at the Coliseum. INDIANAPOLIS -- As one of the NBAs elite teams, the Indiana Pacers have a target on their backs. The Phoenix Suns came out firing in the first half and held the Pacers off in the second to hand Indiana just its second home loss of the season. "This year theyre not the underdogs anymore," Suns forward Channing Frye said. "Teams come out and give it their best shot. For them to expect us to come in and lay down, for any team to lay down, its not going to happen." Goran Dragic had 28 points and seven assists to lead Phoenix to the 102-94 win over the Pacers on Thursday night. Gerald Green and Marcus Morris scored 16 points apiece to help the Suns win their fourth straight game. Markieff Morris, who finished with 15 points, hit a 3-pointer with 2:58 remaining to give the Suns a 98-92 lead and Dragic dunked to give the Suns a 100-94 lead with 44 seconds left to put the game out of reach. The Suns (28-18) seemed to have the game put away by halftime. Dragic scored 21 of the Suns 66 points in the first half -- the most given up by the Pacers (35-10) in a half this season since the Suns scored 62 on Indiana a week ago in a 124-100 win. "We are at our best when we start the game well," Dragic said. "We played an up-tempo game, so I think they were a little bit tired." The Pacers rallied after trailing 66-49 at the break, but never retook the lead. Roy Hibbert had 26 points and David West added 18 for the Pacers, who have lost three of five games. Indiana went on an 8-2 run early in the second half with shots by David West, Paul George, Lance Stephenson and George Hill to get within 70-53. Later, George was fouled on a layup and converted the 3-point play to make it 71-61 with 7:01 left in the third. Miles Plumlee missed a dunk and Hibbert scored on a putback to get Indiana within eight. Frye answered with a basket and then Hibbert scored Indianas neext six points to get the Pacers within 73-69.dddddddddddd "We came out, got ourselves back in it in the second half with defence, but couldnt get up over the hump," Hibbert said. "They outplayed us." The Pacers got within a point when Hill hit two free throws to make it 91-90 with 4:20 remaining, but Green extended the lead with two free throws. Hill made a layup before Green hit a jumper to put the Suns ahead 95-92 and Markieff Morris 3-pointer to give the Suns a five-point lead. "In the end, that third quarter cost us a little bit," Dragic said. "They came really strong. They made some open shots and that made it a little bit of a different game." It was much different from the way Phoenix played in the first half. They took a lead right away in the first quarter. They went on a 9-0 run early in the game when Dragic tied the game on a layup and later hit a jumper to give the Suns a 6-8 lead. Then Green hit a 3-pointer and another basket to make it 13-6 with 6:24 left in the first quarter. The Suns went on a 15-2 run to close out the first quarter with a 36-19 lead. Stephenson, who left the game in the first quarter after getting hit in the right eye, scored 12 second-quarter points. West added 10, but the Pacers were never able to put together a run or cut into the deficit. Even when George hit a jumper falling out of bounds that went over the corner of the backboard and through the hoop, it didnt matter. Dragic hit a 3-pointer to take back the lead and to give the Suns a 62-45 lead. NOTES: In four halves against the Pacers this season, the Suns have scored 62 points or more in three of them. . Stephenson recorded his fourth triple-double with 14 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists. . Hibbert and George become the first Pacers teammates to earn All-Star honours in the same season since Jermaine ONeal and Ron Artest in 2004. ' ' '