RIO DE JANEIRO -- IOC president Thomas Bach issued another defense of his handling of the Russian doping scandal Monday, saying the decision not to exclude the entire Russian team from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics was based on human rights and justice.Bach used his speech at the opening ceremony of the IOCs general assembly to address the continuing criticism of the Olympic bodys response to evidence of state-sponsored doping in Russia, declaring that individual athletes cannot be punished for the wrongdoing of their government.This decision is about justice, Bach said. Justice has to be independent from politics. Whoever responds to a violation of the law with another violation of the law is destroying justice.Rejecting calls from anti-doping bodies for a total ban on Russia, the IOC instead gave international sports federations the authority to rule on the entry of individual Russian athletes. The IOC also ruled that any Russian athletes with prior doping sanctions could not compete in the Rio Games, which open Friday.While more than 100 Russians -- including the track and field team -- have been banned from the games, more than 250 have so far been cleared to compete by the federations.We had to take the necessary decisions, Bach said. Because of the seriousness of the allegations, we could not uphold the presumption of innocence for Russian athletes. On the other hand, we cannot deprive an athlete of the human right to be given the opportunity to prove his or her innocence.You cannot punish a human being for the failures of his or her government if he or she is not implicated. These principles are now being implemented.The IOCs rejection of a full ban has been harshly criticized by many anti-doping bodies, athletes groups and Western media.Calls for a blanket ban grew after Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, who was commissioned to investigate by the World Anti-Doping Agency, issued a report accusing Russias sport ministry of orchestrating a vast doping scheme involving athletes in more than two dozen winter and summer sports.If proven true, such a contemptuous system of doping is an unprecedented attack on the integrity of sport and on the Olympic Games, Bach said. With the Olympic Games just a few days away, we had to take action even though the McLaren report is not yet finished and the Russian side has not been heard yet.We took immediate measures to shed full light on the allegations. and more actions and sanctions will follow if necessary.Bach spoke at a ceremony ahead of the IOCs 129th session, a three-day assembly starting Tuesday.He expressed support for South Americas first Olympics, whose build-up has been overshadowed by Brazils political and economic crises and concerns over Zika, water pollution, crime and budget cuts.It has been a long and testing journey to get to this point, Bach said. It is no exaggeration to say that the Brazilians have been living through extraordinary times. The political and economic crisis in the country is unprecedented. It goes without saying that this situation has made the final preparations for the Olympic Games challenging.In a time when the country is divided politically, economically and socially, the transformation of Rio de Janeiro is truly historic. Rio de Janeiro would not be where it is today without the Olympic Games as a catalyst.Basket Adidas Nmd Homme Pas Cher . Anthony Davis had 31 points and 17 rebounds in his seventh straight game with more than 20 points, but that was only enough to keep the Pelicans competitive into the final minutes. Andrew Bogut had 10 points and 15 rebounds for Golden State, which rebounded from a loss a night earlier in Oklahoma City and snapped a two-game skid. Adidas Nmd Cs1 Pas Cher . However, he did make them miss him a little less. Cundiff, who had the unenviable job of replacing Dawson last season, agreed Thursday to a one-year, $1. http://www.basketnmdpascher.fr/pas-cher-basket-springblade.html . -- The Sacramento Kings are set to become the first major professional sports franchise to accept Bitcoin virtual currency for ticket and merchandise purchases. Basket Adidas Springblade Pas Cher . Brad Jacobs and his Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., team took control of the game early. Adidas Nmd Pas Cher Chine . -- Team after team passed on Andre Ellington in the draft.NEW YORK -- The New York Islanders are playing their best hockey of the season, and theyre doing it against some of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.Andrew Ladd scored in the second period and Jaroslav Halak stopped 36 shots to lead the Islanders to a 4-2 victory over the crosstown-rival Rangers on Tuesday night. John Tavares, Jason Chimera and Scott Mayfield also scored at Barclays Center to help the last-place Islanders improve to 4-0-1 in their last five games.Were playing a lot better hockey and we know we can still be a lot better so I think thats really the mindset, Tavares said. Lot of games here before Christmas. ... We know we can still do a lot of good things `til then. Were just starting the second quarter of the season.The Islanders last three wins have come against defending champion Pittsburgh and the Rangers -- tied atop the Metropolitan Division -- and Washington, which sits in one of the conferences wild-card spots.No secret if you want to make the playoffs, be a good team, you gotta beat some of the top teams in the league and certainly being able to do that has been big for us, Tavares said. Even though there still needs to be a lot of improvement, I think we all recognize theres some good building blocks going.Jimmy Vesey and Marc Staal scored for the Metropolitan Division-leading Rangers and Henrik Lundqvist finished with 28 saves. The Rangers have alternated wins and losses in regulation in their last eight games.I think its important for us not to look for any excuses and try to be there every night as good as we can, said Lundqvist, who fell to 1-6-1 in his last eight against the Islanders. Just have to dig a little deeper to get there.The Rangers went 0 for 6 on the power play, including a 6-on-3 advantage with Lundqvist pulled over the final 32 seconds.You gotta score those timely goals and we didnt do it tonight, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. We had the looks. I thought we battled hard. We tried to come back but their goalie without a doubt was the best player on the ice tonight and we didnt finish on our opportunities.After the Islanders took a 2-0 lead in the first period, the Rangers twice pulled within one but couldnt tie it before falling behind by two again.Vesey knocked in the rebound of a shot by Rick Nash for the rookies ninth just 56 seconds into the second to cut the deficit in half.The Islanders restored their two-goal lead 1:22 later when Shane Prince drove the net and had the puck poked away by Lundqvist. It went right to Ladd, who fired it in for his third.ddddddddddddStaal pulled the Rangers to 3-2 when he took a pass from J.T. Miller on a 4-on-2 rush and fired it by Halak from the right faceoff dot for his third at 8:54. The assist gave Miller a team-high 20 points on the season.Tavares restored the Islanders two-goal lead off a pass from Josh Bailey from the top of the right faceoff circle on the power play for his seventh with 8:47 left in the third.Its always important to win games, Halak said. Beating the division rivals, its always huge for us, its always a four-point game. Coming out with two points against the Rangers is always a fun game to play.The Islanders were outshot 16-9 in the first period but took a 2-0 lead into the intermission.Mayfield got his first of the season in his third game as he took a pass from Cal Clutterbuck and fired a slap shot from near the boards outside the right faceoff circle past a screened Lundqvist at 7:03.The Rangers Matt Puempel was down on the ice for several minutes and left due to a concussion after taking a high stick from the Islanders Brock Nelson, who was whistled for a double-minor. The Rangers controlled the play for most of the four-minute power-play, firing eight shots at Halak, who stopped them all.Just as the penalty was expiring, Chimera brought the puck up the ice, waited for Nelson to join the play out of the box and sent the puck to him at the right side. Nelson skated up and fired a shot that bounced around in front, and Chimera knocked it in with 2:36 left for his fourth of the season and third in four games.Game notesThe Rangers were without F Michael Grabner, the team-leader with 13 goals, while the former Islander was back in Austria for his grandmothers funeral. ... The Islanders improved to 8-1-2 when scoring at least three goals, 7-0-1 when leading after two periods, and 7-1-3 when scoring first. ... D Mayfield was called up from Bridgeport of the AHL to take the place of Johnny Boychuk, who was scratched due to flu-like symptoms. ... The Islanders had their second sellout of the season, and first since the opener against Anaheim on Oct. 16.UP NEXTRangers: At Winnipeg on Thursday night in the middle game of a three-game road swing.Islanders: Host St. Louis on Thursday night in the finale of a three-game homestand.---Follow Vin Cherwoo at www.twitter.com/VinCherwooAP. ' ' '