MOSCOW -- A depleted Russian team departed for the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro on Thursday, missing dozens of athletes who were excluded amid the countrys doping scandal.Team members left on a charter flight from Moscows Sheremetevo airport to Brazil, a day after an emotional farewell ceremony with Russian President Vladimir Putin in the Kremlin.More than 100 athletes from what was originally a 387-strong team have been barred from competing in Rio by international sports federations under sanctions which most Russian athletes consider unfair.Were after medals, thats it, handball player Anna Sen said as she prepared to board the flight. We need to fight for those athletes who were disqualified.Volleyball player Sergei Tetyukhin, a four-time Olympic medalist, will be Russias flagbearer for the opening ceremony in Rio, according to pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva.Isinbayeva, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, has become a de facto spokeswoman for Russian athletes excluded from the Olympics and gave a tearful address to the team in the Kremlin on Wednesday.Today, as never before, we need to stay united and become a family, the 40-year-old Tetyukhin said, ignoring what he called provocations addressed at our team and our mighty country.No track and field athletes were among the contingent heading for Rio, since the entire track team is banned from competing, except for a single U.S.-based long jumper, following revelations of widespread doping.The track team did, however, attend the ceremonial farewell with Putin on Wednesday, when the Russian president branded restrictions on Russia as pure discrimination.Hours after the plane carrying the Russian team took off, the track and field team gathered across town in a small stadium for what was billed as an Olympic consolation event.World champions competed against regional-level athletes in front of around 150 spectators in an event hastily organized after the track teams ban was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last week.Isinbayeva watched from the sidelines, vowing defiance and legal action.You cant break Russians, she said. People have tried to break us down, but its never worked ... What doesnt kill us makes us stronger.She added that she plans to file another appeal to CAS and also the European Court of Human Rights.My conscience is clean, said long jumper Vasily Kopeikin, another athlete barred from Rio. Time will show those people who suspended us.Kopeikin added that he would not watch any Olympic events in which Russia was not taking part.While Russia avoided a blanket ban from the games at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee board on Sunday, the IOC imposed new restrictions on Russia. International sports federations must now remove any athlete previously banned for doping or who was implicated in a report commissioned by the World Anti-Doping Agency that accused Russia of a mass cover-up of failed drug tests.Some federations have taken a tough line, excluding many Russian team members from events such as rowing, canoeing and swimming. Other sports, such as judo and tennis, have allowed the entire Russian team to compete in their sport. These rulings must still be ratified by CAS.Some Russian athletes had flown to Rio in advance of the main delegation, including gymnasts and swimmers. Russias head swim coach Sergei Kolmogorov told Russian agency R-Sport that swimmers barred from the games, including world 100-meter breaststroke champion Yulia Efimova, were at a pre-Olympic training camp in Brazil in the hope of a late reprieve to allow them to race in Rio.Russias weightlifting team has been dogged by doping cases and faced further embarrassment Wednesday when retests of samples from the 2012 Olympics saw four Russians, including three medalists, test positive. The entire lifting team risks being banned from the Rio Games because of the large number of failures in retests from the 2008 and 2012 Olympics.Putin last week called for the creation of a new state-backed anti-doping commission to draw up future strategy. In a clear sign of coordination, it was set up within hours under Vitaly Smirnov, a former Soviet sports minister and IOC member.Smirnov told local media Thursday that the new commission would be independent of the government, despite containing several senior figures with links to the Kremlin.Smirnov also insisted that the government was not involved in doping, despite allegations in the report for WADA by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren that sports ministry officials oversaw a mass doping program and a cover-up.We will welcome the arrival of WADA and we rule out any attempts at interference by the state or other structures, he said. In Russia there is not and never has been any state support for doping. Michael Jordan Jersey .ca! Hi Kerry, Its another day and here we are looking at another dubious hit to the head. In this case Blue Jackets forward Brandon Dubinsky elbowed Saku Koivu in the head about a second after he dished off the puck to a teammate, knocking him unconscious. 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Peter Gammons, an analyst for Major League Baseballs network and website, drew the ire of hockey fans on Sunday when he criticized the two NHL teams on Twitter for their physical game the night before.SAN ANTONIO -- Manu Ginobili is sticking around to see if the San Antonio Spurs can get back to the top. Ginobili tweeted Wednesday that he is staying with the team he has helped win three NBA titles and nearly a fourth last month. "Thrilled to announce that as I always hoped, Im gonna stay with the (at)Spurs for two more years," he wrote. Ginobili, who turns 36 this month, battled injuries during the season and said he would think about retirement after the playoffs. But he helped the Spurs come within 28 seconds of the championship before falling to the Miami Heat in seven games, and his return ensures the longtime Big Three that includes Tim Duncan and Tony Parker will be in place next season. Details of the contract agreement werent available, but Ginobili figures to take a pay cut from the $14.1 million he made last season as the Spurs highest-paid player. Duncan did the same thing last summer, going from $21.2 million to $9.6 million. Teams can reach agreements with free agents, but contracts cant be signed before July 10. The playoffs were rough in spots for Ginobili, raising more questions about whether the Spurs would be willing to bring him back considering his age and the heavy wear on his legs from international competition with Argentina. He won Olympic gold at the 2004 Summer Games in Athens.dddddddddddd Ginobilis regular-season and playoff scoring averages were the lowest since his rookie season in 2002-03. A couple of games in the NBA Finals were plagued by poor shooting and turnovers, including eight in Game 6 when San Antonio coughed up a five-point lead in the final half-minute. Still, Ginobili can be a valuable weapon from the 3-point line, where he shoots 37 per cent for his career, and as a ball-handler who can get in the lane and score or find an opener shooter. Hes averaged 14.9 points, 4.0 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 11 seasons. In last weeks draft, the Spurs chose Livio Jean-Charles and Ohio States Deshaun Thomas to beef up their front line, though Jean-Charles is 19 and isnt expected to play in the NBA for some time. Thomas is expected to battle for a spot on the roster next season. A first-team all-Big Ten selection, Thomas averaged 19.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and shot 34 per cent from 3-point range. DeJuan Blair is an unrestricted free agent, Tiago Splitter is restricted and Boris Diaw is mulling a player option. The Spurs are mindful of salary-cap considerations: Two years ago, they traded fan favourite George Hill to Indiana for the rights to Kawhi Leonard, who was the 15th pick in the draft and has turned into a key player for San Antonio. ' ' '