ROME -- Irresponsible, unsustainable and unaffordable.Refusing to put up with more debt in a city besieged by corruption and poor public services, Mayor Virginia Raggi rejected Romes bid for the 2024 Olympics on Wednesday, effectively dooming the capitals candidacy for the second time in four years.This city is unlivable, Raggi said in a news conference at city hall atop ancient Capitoline Hill. We need to focus on that.We have a much more ambitious project for Rome than the one for the 2024 Games, Raggi added. We want to upgrade the services, give back to citizens a city that is as worthy as any other European capital.If approved by Romes city assembly, Raggis motion to withdraw the bid would leave only Los Angeles, Paris and Budapest, Hungary, in the running for the 2024 Games. The International Olympic Committee will decide on the host city in September 2017.Raggis rejection comes after then-Premier Mario Monti stopped Romes plans to bid for the 2020 Olympics because of financial concerns.Weve lost all credibility, if we pull out, Italian Olympic Committee president Giovanni Malago said, ruling out an eventual bid for the 2028 Games, even from another Italian city. Because theyll think people in Italy are not serious.Raggi said it would be financially irresponsible to pursue the bid any further given the city is barely able to get its trash picked up. She highlighted the debts that previous Olympic host cities have incurred and the unfinished infrastructure already blighting Rome from previous sporting bids as reasons to justify the withdrawal.In light of the data we have, these Olympics are not sustainable. They will bring only debt, she said. We dont want sports to become another pretext for more cement foundations in the city. We wont allow it.Raggi drew up a motion to withdraw the bid Wednesday and put it before the city assembly, which has the final say. There was no immediate word if and when the council would take it up.Malago said the committee would continue working on the bid in the absence of a formal vote, noting the next dossier must be submitted to the IOC on Oct. 7.If theres no formal act, we can continue, he said. They cant just declare it in a news conference.Indeed, rival cities werent ready to count Rome out altogether.There is no confirmation that Rome has departed from the 2024 race and as such it is not appropriate for us to offer any comment except to wish our Italian colleagues well during this period of difficult time, the Budapest Olympic committee said.Raggi, a 38-year-old lawyer who is Romes first female mayor, was elected in June representing the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement.The Rome bid was approved by the city assembly last year with 38 votes in favor and only six against -- meaning Raggi will have to put the issue up for another vote to officially end the candidacy.The IOC requires bidders to have support from the government and city.Previous Mayor Ignazio Marino, who was forced out over an expense account scandal, had supported the bid. And Premier Matteo Renzi has been a big fan of the candidacy since he helped launch it in 2014. He has said the bid would be doomed if Romes mayor doesnt support it.A budget of 24 million euros ($27 million) has already been allotted -- much of it spent -- to the bid committee, even though candidacy head Luca Cordero di Montezemolo has no salary.Raggis rejection was another stinging blow for the IOCs Olympic Agenda 2020 program, which was designed to make bidding for and hosting the games more flexible and more affordable.Rome was able to bid only after the IOC changed its rules with Agenda 2020 and reduced the costs of putting together a candidacy, Malago said.The bid had been slated to be centered around Romes historic monuments: a cycling sprint alongside the Roman Forum, beach volleyball at the Circus Maximus and the marathon passing through St. Peters Square and finishing under the Arch of Constantine. Plus, a nightly parade of athletes at the Colosseum.Relying on many venues that were used for the 1960 Olympics in Rome, the candidacy proposed using existing structures for 70 percent of the required sites. The budget had been projected at 5.3 billion euros ($6 billion) -- 2.1 billion euros for the construction of permanent venues and the balance for temporary venues.The withdrawal is another clear signal that the IOC still has a lot of work to do to convince cities that hosting the games is a boon and not a burden.Voters in Hamburg rejected the German citys 2024 bid in a referendum. Boston also dropped out last year amid a lack of public and political support and was replaced by Los Angeles.Its very upsetting, Rome bid vice president Luca Pancalli said. Its like we started a race and someone gets out of the pool in the middle of the race and says were not racing any longer.Norman Powell Raptors Jersey . 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OG Anunoby Jersey .com) - The Montreal Canadiens will try to halt their longest losing streak of the season when they host the struggling New York Islanders in tonights clash at the Bell Centre.WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- The Winnipeg Jets are preparing to welcome a nearly point-per-game player to their line-up and its not going to cost them a single draft pick.Ordinarily, the addition of somebody of Bryan Littles ilk would require a nearly-blockbuster trade, but instead the Jets will merely activate him from injured reserve.Little, 29, played all of four shifts this season before going down with a lower-body injury during the season-opener against the Carolina Hurricanes on Oct. 13. He had been the teams No. 1 center since the Jets moved north from Atlanta in 2011, but a fractured vertebrae in his back late last season, which caused Little to miss another 25 games, enabled Mark Scheifele to move into that spot.Little practiced with the Jets Monday morning at the MTS Centre as they prepared to face the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. He pronounced himself fit to return to the line-up.If it was up to me, yes, he told the Winnipeg Free Press. I feel pretty good. It was kind of my plan today to see if everything went well today. I feel comfortable playing. I cant really test it much more other than if I get back into a game and see how it goes. As of now, I havent had any hiccups in the last couple of weeks.The Jets, who defeated the Nashville Predators 3-0 on Sunday, are hoping to continue making up ground during a three-game homestand, which concludes against NHL scoring leader Connor McDavid and the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday. Prior to Sunday, they had lost ffive consecutive road games.ddddddddddddThe Devils come to town in a similar predicament, having lost five out of six games, including two in a row, most recently a 4-3 shootout loss to the Penguins in Pittsburgh.They are also hoping to soon welcome back a first-line player -- left winger Taylor Hall, who has been out since having arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee on Nov. 16. He was expected to miss three or four weeks but now the word is he could be back in the line-up before this road trip is done. The Devils travel to Chicago for a game against the Blackhawks on Thursday and to Nashville to play the Predators on Saturday.Hall practiced with the team at the MTS Centre on Monday, his first skate with his teammates since his injury, but isnt expected to play against the Jets.When Im ready to play, Ill play, he told The Record. You look at the timeline they gave me 12 days out of surgery 1/8Monday 3/8, and I was skating at a week. Im trying to build to get ready to play games here soon. I dont think Im rushing anything. Im not being pressured to play any quicker than I have to. d love to play at some point on the trip.The Devils currently sit in fifth place in the Metropolitan Division with a record of 10-6-5 for 25 points. The Jets are sixth place in the Central Division with a record of 10-12-2 for 22 points. ' ' '