UNCASVILLE, United States — The head coach of Brittney Griner’s WNBA team
said the nine-year sentence handed out to its star player by a Russian court on
Thursday was devastating — even though it was no surprise.
اضافة اعلان
“We knew this was
coming, we’ve been prepared for it,” said Vanessa Nygaard, Phoenix Mercury’s
head coach, noting the minuscule acquittal rates in Russian courts where Griner
was convicted of smuggling drugs into the country.
“We know we weren’t
hanging our hopes on the Russian justice system.”
She said it made it
hard to concentrate on Thursday night’s WNBA game against the Connecticut Sun,
in which the Mercury will be trying to bounce back from an 87–63 loss to the
Sun on Tuesday.
“The emotions have
escalated during the day,” Nygaard said. “We’re going to go out and play this
game, but, like, how can we have our focus on this game? It’s such an emotional
day for us.”
Not for the first
time, Nygaard suggested that if Griner was not a Black, gay woman she would not
still be wrongfully detained in Russia.
But Nygaard praised
the “tremendous” efforts of US President Joe Biden and his administration in
seeking Griner’s release and that of other Americans deemed wrongfully detained
in Russia.
“What I do know is
our government has really put itself behind BG and all other Americans — we’re
learning a lot more about international wrongly detained Americans than we ever
have,” she said.
“I know there are
many other families experiencing this feeling, too.”
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