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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. George King Jersey . Their experience showed Tuesday as the No. 10 Badgers blunted a Saint Louis surge to win 63-57 and advance to face West Virginia in Wednesdays finals of the Cancun Challenge. 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LEVI, Finland -- It took Austrias Marcel Hirscher just two races to get back to where he finished each of the past five seasons -- on top of the mens World Cup overall standings.Hirscher overcame an illness on the eve of the slalom opener on Sunday to lead teammate Michael Matt for an Austrian 1-2 finish.The five-time overall champion finished a huge 1.30 seconds ahead of Matt to clinch his 40th career win. It was the first Austrian 1-2 finish in a World Cup slalom since Hirscher beat Michael Matts older brother, Mario, at the same venue three years ago.Manfred Moelgg of Italy was 1.31 seconds back in third for his first podium finish in nearly three years, while Germanys Felix Neureuther came another 0.10 further behind in fourth.Physically it went very well. I have no pains. Yesterday it was really bad but this morning I knew it would work out, said Hirscher, who suffered from an inflammation of the middle ear.He skipped Saturdays training and decided only in the morning hours before the race to start. He headed back to his hotel for treatment immediately after completing his first run.Hirscher overtook Alexis Pinturault on top of the overall standings. The Frenchman, who beat the Austrian to win the season-opening GS last month, finished 1.87 behind in 11th. Hirscher has 180 points, 56 clear of Pinturault.Hirschers victory also put the Austrian level with Pirmin Zurbriggen on the all-time winners list. Only four skiers have won more races in the 50-year history of the World Cup -- Ingemar Stenmark (86), Hermann Maier (54), Alberto Tomba (50), and Marc Girardelli (46).I felt no pressure at all, Hirscher told The Associated Press. For me personally, I have won already a lot of races and I am done with `I have to win races.Matt, who improved from sixth to second for his first career podium result, said he was more nervous for my first run than for my second as I knew by then that everything was OK. He described being on the podium as an amazing feeling.I made a big step in the summer physically and mentally and the goals were top-10 results and now with the first race podium, its amazing, he said.Marco Schwarz, who trailed Hirscher by just 0.21 after the first run, slid off the course and didnt finish his final run, but another Austrian, Manuel Feller, took fifth.Austrias slalom team lost several big names as Benjamin Raich, Mario Matt and Reinfried Herbst all retired in the past two seasons.dddddddddddd But Hirscher said the many young and upcoming talents on the team help him to further improve.Its perfect in training, said Hirscher, who has won 19 slaloms in his career. It wasnt easy for me in the beginning but the young guys really give me motivation. Thats truly super.Hirscher didnt want to give his huge winning margin too much meaning as his main rival from last season, Henrik Kristoffersen, skipped the race.One guy was missing, the fastest from last year. But it was a great race, Hirscher said.Kristoffersen, who won six slaloms last year to claim the discipline title, sat out the race amid a dispute with the Norwegian ski federation over sponsorship rights. The federations rules wont allow Kristoffersen to sign a personal sponsor for his helmet.Hirscher said its pretty bad that ... the fastest slalom skier of the last season isnt competing now and added that he hopes they can find a solution.Hopefully hes back in the next races because I have to see how close I can get to his pace, he said.Moelgg, who tore his Achilles tendon in 2014 and hadnt been on the podium for two years, was pushed into third place by Matt who beat him by 1/100th of a second.He was visibly upset but later conceded hed made a little bit of a mistake in the last part and was happy to be back on the podium.One-hundredth (of a second) is OK, now its OK. After the injury two years ago ... last year was not so easy, he said, adding that his goal was to be among the top five or top seven. Thats my motivation, and I think I can do it.Britains Dave Ryding, who was fourth after the opening run, dropped to sixth for his career-best result. And the winner of the final slalom of last season, Andre Myhrer of Sweden, failed to qualify for the second leg after he skied out of the course halfway through his run.Tough conditions included temperatures of about 18 F (minus 8 C) and clouds hanging low over the Arctic course in Finnish Lapland -- in the northernmost World Cup competition. Several racers complained about their goggles freezing up during their runs.The mens World Cup continues in Lake Louise, Alberta, with a downhill and a super-G on Nov. 26-27. ' ' '