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Australian Olympic rugby gold medal winner Charlotte Caslick has taken aim at hockey legend Ric Charlesworth for his description of the Pearls womens sevens victory in Rio de Janeiro as soft.Charlesworth, who coached Australias womens hockey team to Olympic titles in 1996 and 2000, said he was delighted the Pearls had won the gold medal but he described rugby sevens as a soft event at the moment.I dont think they had a try scored against them well into the competition, so some events are much easier than others,Australia defeated Colombia and Fiji by an aggregate 89-0 before wrapping up their pool matches with a 12-12 draw against the United States; they then defeated Spain 24-0 and Canada 17-5 to reach the final in which they defeated New Zealand 24-17 to claim the inaugural gold medal.Caslick, who featured strongly in the four-tries-to-three final victory, scoring one try and having a hand in Ellia Greens second-half score, said Charlesworths comments reflected the fact that I guess hes never played sevens.I used to do track running when I was younger, and rugby sevens is like running a 400m - but on steroids, Caslick said on The Big Sports Breakfast.It is the hardest sport that I have ever tried.If you try running a 400 and getting tackled and getting back up off the ground, its tough.Charlesworth, who featured in five Olympic tournaments with Australias mens team before coaching the Hockeyroos to success in the Atlanta and Sydney Games, said that Olympic hockey tournaments presented a bigger challenge over a longer period of time than rugby sevens.I think hockey is as hard as any of the team games you play, Charlesworth said. Basketball is similar, where you have to play for two weeks, day after day. You can win five or six games and end up with nothing and that is tough.I played in a bunch of teams that were undefeated until the semi-finals - that can happen, its a hard medal to win, you have to slog it out day after day. Wholesale Football College Jerseys . After Mondays hard-fought loss, the wait seemed longer than usual. Getting set to go their separate ways for a short Christmas break, the Raptors coach credited his team for their effort on a seemingly impossible three-game road trip, urging them to build on that success when they get back to work at the end of the week. Wholesale NCAA Jerseys Sale . Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC failed to make the postseason while Montreal Impact fell at the first hurdle losing heavily to Houston Dynamo in the Eastern Conference Knockout Round. http://www.cheapcollegechina.com/ . 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MOSCOW -- Seven Russian swimmers have been barred from the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, including three linked to recent allegations of a major doping cover-up by Russian authorities, world swimmings governing body FINA said Monday.Reigning world 100-meter breaststroke champion Yulia Efimova is among four Russian swimmers withdrawn by the Russian swimming federation because they previously served doping bans, FINA said. The others are Natalya Lovtsova, Anastasia Krapivina and Mikhail Dovgalyuk.The International Olympic Committee on Sunday said Russian athletes with previous doping bans would be banned from the Rio Games. That followed the IOCs decision not to ban the entire Russian team over allegations of state-sponsored doping.FINA said three more swimmers were identified by World Anti-Doping Agency investigator Richard McLaren when he examined evidence that Russian government officials ordered the cover-up of hundreds of doping tests.They are 2008 Olympic silver and 2012 bronze medalist Nikita Lobintsev, bronze medalist Vladimir Morozov and world junior record holder Daria Ustinova.Russias top Olympic official, Alexander Zhukov, told Russian agency R-Sport that he now believed a total of 13 Russians would be ineligible due to previous doping bans. They would be withdrawn from the team, he added.The 13 are likely to include athletes in swimming, cycling, weightlifting, wrestling and rowing.On Sunday, the IOCs executive board asked individual global sports federations to decide on the entry of Russian athletes, and announced new eligibility criteria.The rules prohibit Russia from sending to the Rio Games any athletes who have previously served doping bans. Sports federations can also reject Russian entries if they have not undergone enough international drug testing. Results of Russian tests will not be accepted following allegations of routine cover-ups at Moscows anti-doping laboratory.It remains unclear whether there could be legal challenges to the IOC criteria. A similar IOC measure, known as the Osaka Rule, which would have prohibited any athletes who had received doping bans from competing in the subsequent Olympics, was declared invalid by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.Zhukov said the IOCs latest criteria violated the principle of equality because they only applied to Russia, although he has previously ruled out legal action.However, Russian Swimming Federation president Vladimir Salnikov told the state Tass agency that the four swimmers cut from its team have the chance to appeal to CAS. Efimovas agent, Andrei Mitkov, told Russias Sportbox website that she intended to file an appeal if she was not allowed to compete.Russias track and field athletes remain barred from the games by the IAAF, a decision upheld last week by CAS and accepted by the IOC.ddddddddddddow, with the Aug. 5 opening ceremony approaching, it is up to the remaining 27 international sports federations to vet Russian athletes on an individual basis.The archery federation said Monday it had approved the entry of three Russian archers after determining they have no links to doping.World Archery said it was satisfied that the three female Russian archers nominated for the games had been tested extensively and have never been sanctioned for doping. They were listed as Tuiana Dashidorzhieva, Ksenia Perova and Inna Stepanova.Archery was not implicated in the World Anti-Doping Agency report released last week by Canadian lawyer Richard McLaren, which accused Russia of covering up doping in 20 summer Olympic sports.Russian archers have been targeted for additional testing, both in and out of competition, since the report was released, the federation said.No Russian archery athlete has received an adverse analytical finding, it said, adding that it would submit its findings to the IOC.The International Tennis Federation said Sunday it expects Russias eight-player Olympic tennis team to be eligible for the games. The ITF said the players have been subject to a rigorous anti-doping testing program outside Russia.The International Equestrian Federation said there was no indication of doping within Russias five-rider team.Russian cyclist Ilnur Zakarin, who won a stage during the Tour de France which ended Sunday, could be ruled out because he served a two-year ban after testing positive for a steroid in 2009.The International Judo Federation, whose honorary president is Russias President Vladimir Putin, said it has already tested 84 percent of the 389 athletes from 136 countries who are qualified to compete in Rio. It made no mention of the 11 Russian judo athletes entered.The International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) said it has taken note of the IOC ruling and shall fully adhere to it. It said it would establish a pool of Russian eligible athletes. Gymnastics was not mentioned in the McLaren report.Boxings governing body, AIBA, said it was examining Russias entrants. Eleven Russian boxers have boxers for Rio, including reigning world champions Vitaly Dunaytsev and Evgeny Tishchenko.We are reviewing and analyzing, on a case by case basis, the anti-doping record of the 11 Russian boxers currently qualified for Rio 2016, AIBA said. This information and the decision of AIBA in respect of the athletes eligibility will be submitted to the IOC for confirmation in due course.---AP Sports Writer Stephen Wilson in London contributed. ' ' '