NEW YORK -- Pre-Olympics media reports about the Zika virus, polluted water and political unrest in Brazil raised awareness about the Rio de Janeiro Games and thus helped NBCs advertising sales, network executives said Thursday.The numbers reflect that, NBC Sports advertising head Seth Winters said. Advertisers are exceptionally bullish on these games.He said NBC had already sold $1.2 billion in national advertising time, at a pace about 20 percent above the 2012 London Games, and is holding back inventory for additional sales. The network hit its internal target weeks in advance, and often that doesnt happen until after the games start, if the target is reached, he said.NBC Universal Chief Executive Officer Stephen Burke has already predicted that he expects Rio to be the most profitable Olympics in history. NBC, which paid $1.2 billion for the broadcasting rights to Rio, made money from London, too.The London Games were a huge success for NBC, which averaged 31.1 million viewers across two weeks of prime-time coverage. In todays fragmented television world, nothing can come close to gathering such a large, diverse audience for that length of time.NBC Universal spreads its Olympic coverage across 11 television networks and is streaming all of the competition online. But roughly three-quarters of its ad sales come for the prime-time telecast on the broadcast network.We are hitting on all cylinders, Winter said.NBC will begin its prime-time coverage with an hour-long preview Thursday night, and will televise the opening ceremony on Friday.Winter said viewers will see some political advertising during the Olympics, but he wouldnt specify which campaigns have bought time. LeBron James Shoes Deals . 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Cheap LeBron James Shoes .C. - The Carolina Hurricanes have placed backup goalie Anton Khudobin on injured reserve with an unspecified lower-body injury. Sri Lanka captain Angelo Mathews has emphasised the need for his batsmen to give his bowlers a chance on the tour of South Africa by getting runs in tough conditions. Mathews said the team had been batting on granite to try and get used to extra bounce ahead of the three-Test series beginning on December 26.With Dushmantha Chameera coming back into the team and young Vikum Sanjaya earning his spot, we have got a fairly decent pace attack which can put them under pressure, but we need to score runs as a batting unit, Mathews said ahead of the teams departure for South Africa. Its going to be our main challenge; the boys have worked extremely hard in the past few weeks.Part of that hard work was facing deliveries coming off granite surfaces to try and mimic the conditions in South Africa. The pace the boys are used to, its just the the bounce and the conditions that we need to get used to, Mathews said. We used a lot of granite stuff, especially the batters. When you use a piece of granite, the ball is coming on to you quicker. The granite is laid down on the pitch and you can throw the ball on it so that it comes on quicker.Weve done everything possible to try and counterattack the South African fast bowlers and get used to their conditions. We have about 12 days before we play our first Test on Boxing Day. Well try and use those days to the maximum so that we get things right.Mathews was aiming to break the predominant trend in modern-day cricket, where teams struggle to win away from home. Sri Lanka won a Test series 2-0 in Zimbabwe in October and November but South Africa, who won 2-1 in Australia recently, aare significantly tougher opponents.dddddddddddd When Sri Lanka last toured South Africa, in 2011-12, they lost the three-Test series 1-2.Most of the teams do well and win at home but struggle overseas. It happens to any team but we want to try and achieve some wins overseas and turn the tables, Mathews said. I am confident that my team can do it. We got a good combination where we have five fast bowlers, two experienced spinners and a solid batting order.Sri Lankas batting was boosted by the return of Mathews, who recovered from a leg injury, and Dinesh Chandimal, whose broken hand had healed. They will slot into the middle order along with Kusal Mendis and Dhananjaya de Silva. Mathews hoped that his side would have stability, which he said was a reason for South Africas success.Except for one or two changes, they are pretty much a settled team for the past four-five years, Mathews said of South Africa. They have been going with the same sort of players, maximum 20. They have managed a set combination and now the results are showing. The settled combination is the one that has led to their success today.We are now doing the same, we talked about it a lot. The solution is not to chop and change but be patient with the players.Sri Lanka have a three-day warm-up game in Potchefstroom before the first Test in Port Elizabeth from December 26. The second Test is in Cape Town from January 2 and the third in Johannesburg from January 12, after which the teams play three T20Is and five ODIs. ' ' '