RIO DE JANEIRO -- The president of cyclings world governing body defended the Olympic road course on Saturday, calling it a fair test and suggesting those who crashed pushed past their limits.Brian Cookson addressed a number of other issues during a wide-ranging news conference at the Rio de Janeiro Games at the midway point of the cycling program, including doping, the schedule of the track cycling program and several road racing issues.But perhaps the biggest hot-button issue through a week of competition was a road course that some had labeled too dangerous. One particularly nasty descent caused riders such as Italian star Vincenzo Nibali to go down and left Dutch rider Annemiek van Vleuten in the hospital.Weve had discussions about the number of crashes and the circumstances. It is my belief and our belief at the UCI that the courses were in the bounds of what was reasonable, Cookson said.Van Vleuten spent several days in the hospital with a concussion and three small fractures to her spine. She flew home to the Netherlands on Friday to continue her recovery.Its the riders responsibility to make the right decisions, Cookson said. I went to speak with Annemiek in the hospital and talked to her, and in her case, it was an error of judgment there (going too fast on the descent).Cookson was also asked about the silver medal won by Olga Zabelinskaya in the time trial. It came just days after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled a ban on Russian athletes who had been barred from competing for prior doping offenses was unenforceable, allowing Zabelinskaya to compete.The Russian cyclist who finished second in the time trial was entitled to be here under the rules of the (World Anti-Doping Agency) and the IOC, Cookson said. Im guessing she will not be the only previously convicted doped athlete at the games.Cookson has been working to clean up the sport after years of doping, including Lance Armstrongs admission of guilt a few years ago. And he said the positive test of a Brazilian cyclist in an out-of-competition test the week before the road race was a sign of progress.Ive said this many times before, cycling has been leading for many years in the fight against doping in sport, Cookson said. Whether there is a small number of athletes trying to cheat, I hope not, but if they are, we will catch them and we will sanction them.In other issues:- Cookson said the UCI is still examining the blood bags from Operation Puerto, the Spanish police investigation into a doping ring led by Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes. Cookson otherwise declined to comment on the ongoing investigation, saying only that when we have something to report, we will.- The UCI is confident WorldTour teams will compete in the team time trial at the world championships in Qatar. Several teams announced plans to boycott the event, in part because they are required to compete at their own expense.- Cookson said he was open to smaller teams in major events such as the Tour de France, but he warned that I think some of the bigger teams would object to that, and there are pros and cons to the details of that. Its something I wouldnt rule out but lets move forward gradually.- The UCI hopes to expand the cycling program at future Olympics, though Cookson did not say whether it would be merely an expansion of the track program or the addition of another discipline, such as downhill mountain biking or freestyle BMX competition. Cheap New York Knicks Jerseys . 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Cheap Boston Celtics Jerseys . During the athletes parade, the 23-strong Ukrainian team was represented by a lone flagbearer in an apparent protest at the presence of Russian troops in Ukraines Crimean peninsula.Robin Uthappa fired the third-fastest fifty in the 2016 IPL as Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Kings XI Punjab by six wickets in Mohali. Uthappa (53 off 28 balls) smashed nine fours on his way to a 24-ball fifty as the Knight Riders reached their 139-run target with 17 balls to spare.Shaun Marsh earlier hit an unbeaten 56 from 41 balls for Kings XI but was one of only three players to notch double-figures as they struggled to 138-8 when put into bat by Kolkata, Sunil Narine impressive in taking 2-22. Mark Ramprakash tells Matt Floyd and Marcus North about his time in India watching the coaching techniques used by Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders Kolkata made comfortable work of the run-chase to win their third in four, with Kings XI consigned to the reverse, having lost three of their first four games.Murali Vijay and Manan Vohra - both so impressive in scoring fifties in Kings XIs first win over Pune on Sunday - opened up, but the latter lasted only 12 balls before falling to Morne Morkel (2-27) in the fourth over.Vijay and Marsh safely negotiated the rest of the six-over powerplay and looked to be going along nicely until Piyush Chawla (1-18) bowled Vijay for 26 with a brilliant googly. Fellow legspinner Narine inflicted further damage, picking uup Wriddhiman Saha caught behind, and Glenn Maxwell switch-hitting straight to cover.ddddddddddddIn between those blows, Yusuf Pathan struck with his first ball of the tournament to remove Kings XI captain David Miller - the skipper tallying his third single-figure score for the tournament.Three more wickets fell in the final few overs, including Pradeep Sahu to a poor run out, but Marsh at least reached his half century with six in the final over, one of two off Andre Russells final - and solitary - over, as Kyle Abbott also lofted him over the ropes to add some gloss to the score.Uthappa and captain Gautam Gambhir put on 82 for the first wicket for Kolkata, the writing on the wall from ball one almost as Uthappa tucked it away off his pads for four. Robin Uthappa celebrates his half century in Kolkatas comfortable win over Kings XI The opening pair blasted 65 runs from the powerplay, although they benefitted from a couple of slices of luck in the fifth over, with Miller missing an opportunity to run out Gambhir at mid-on, and a thick outside edge from Uthappa off Sandeep Sharma just evading Saha behind the stumps.Both eventually fell to legspinner Pardeep Sahu (2-18) - Uthappa out lbw in the ninth over, while Gambhir departed for a run-a-ball 34 in the 11th to a terrific diving catch from Maxwell at midwicket.A slightly complacent Kolkata also lost Manish Pandey (12) and Shakib Al Hasan (11) to Axar Patel (2-19) before eventually earning a comfortable win.Watch continued coverage of the IPL on Sky Sports, with the next live action seeing Mumbai Indians face Royal Challengers Bangalore from 3pm on Sky Sports 2 on Wednesday. cheap falcons jerseys cheap ravens jerseys cheap bills jerseys cheap bears jerseys cheap bengals jerseys cheap cowboys jerseys cheap lions jerseys cheap texans jerseys cheap colts jerseys cheap jaguars jerseys cheap chiefs jerseys cheap rams jerseys cheap dolphins jerseys cheap vikings jerseys cheap saints jerseys cheap giants jerseys cheap jets jerseys cheap eagles jerseys cheap steelers jerseys cheap 49ers jerseys ' ' '