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A32 sports
Diasabra 2 Juli 2022

WNBA's Brittney Griner goes on trial in Russian court

(AP) — American basket- WNBA's Mercury, she played quiet resolution until May,
ball star Brittney Griner in Russia for UMMC Ekat- when the State Department
went on trial Friday, 4 1/2 erinburg. reclassified her as wrongfully
months after her arrest on detained and shifted over-
charges of possessing can- Elizabeth Rood, deputy chief sight of her case to its special
nabis oil while returning of mission at the U.S. Em- presidential envoy for hos-
to play for a Russian team, bassy in Moscow, was in tage affairs — effectively the
in a case that has unfolded court and said she spoke with U.S. government's chief ne-
amid tense relations be- Griner, who "is doing as well gotiator.
tween Moscow and Wash- as can be expected in these Griner's wife, Cherelle, has
ington. difficult circumstances." urged President Joe Biden to
She said the U.S. govern- secure her release, calling her
The initial session of the trial, ment, from its highest lev- "a political pawn."
which was adjourned until els, "is working hard to bring
July 7, offered the most ex- Brittney and all wrongfully Griner's supporters have en-
tensive public interaction be- detained U.S. nationals home couraged a prisoner swap like
tween Griner and reporters safely." the one in April that brought
since the Phoenix Mercury At a closed-door preliminary home Marine veteran Trevor
center and two-time U.S. hearing Monday, Griner's de- Reed in exchange for a Rus-
Olympic gold medalist was tention was extended for an- sian pilot convicted of drug
arrested in February at Mos- other six months, to Dec. 20. trafficking conspiracy.
cow's Sheremetyevo Interna- Russian news media have re-
tional Airport. Her case comes at an extraor- peatedly raised speculation
dinarily low point in Mos- that she could be swapped
Griner, 31, was escorted into cow-Washington relations. for Russian arms trader Vik-
the courtroom in the capi- Griner was arrested less than tor Bout, nicknamed "the
tal's suburb of Khimki while a week before Russia sent Merchant of Death," who is
handcuffed, carrying a water troops into Ukraine, which serving a 25-year sentence on
bottle and what appeared to aggravated already high ten- conviction of conspiracy to
be a magazine, and wearing a sions between the two coun- kill U.S. citizens and provid-
Jimi Hendrix T-shirt. tries. The U.S. then imposed ing aid to a terrorist organiza-
sweeping sanctions on Mos- tion.
Police have said she was car- tensive coverage of high-pro- cow, and Russia denounced
rying vape canisters with can- file court cases. Alexander Boykov, an attor- the U.S. for sending weapons Russia has agitated for Bout's
nabis oil when detained at the ney for Griner, said outside to Ukraine. release for years. But the wide
airport. She could face up to Fewer than 1% of defendants court that he did not want to discrepancy between Griner's
10 years in prison if convict- in Russian criminal cases are comment "on the specifics of Kremlin spokesman Dmitry case — which involves al-
ed of large-scale transporta- acquitted, and unlike in U.S. the case and on the charges" Peskov on Friday denied pol- leged possession of vape car-
tion of drugs. courts, acquittals can be over- because it was too early to do itics played a role in Griner's tridges containing cannabis
turned. so. detention and prosecution. oil — and Bout's global deal-
The state-owned Tass news Two witnesses were ques- Boykov also told RIA-No- "The facts are that the fa- ings in deadly weapons could
agency quoted Griner as tioned by the prosecution: an vosti that she has been exer- mous athlete was detained make such a swap unpalat-
saying in court that she un- airport customs official, who cising and taking walks in the in possession of prohibited able to the U.S.
derstood the charges against spoke in open court, and an detention area. The Russian medication containing nar- Others have suggested that
her. Asked by the judge if unidentified witness in a website Business FM said cotic substances," Peskov told she could be traded along
she wanted to enter a plea, closed session. according to that Griner, who smiled at reporters. "In view of what with Paul Whelan, a former
Griner responded, "At this the state news agency RIA- times at reporters, said she I've said, it can't be politically Marine and security director
moment, no, your honor. Novosti. The trial was then wishes she could work out motivated," he added. serving a 16-year sentence on
At a later date," according to adjourned, it said, when two more and that she was strug- an espionage conviction that
Mediazona, an independent other witnesses did not show gling because she doesn't un- Griner's supporters had kept the U.S. has repeatedly de-
news site known for its ex- up. derstand Russian. Besides the a low profile in hopes of a scribed as a setup.

Upset of Sakkari 'pretty awesome' for veteran player Maria

(AP) — Tatjana Maria's in the second set of their third- hurry. I knew that I have my chances. If I
Wimbledon run appeared to be in round match. play clever and good, I can win this
trouble when Maria Sakkari was The 34-year-old German won the match."
a point away from going up 5-1 Then Maria turned it around — in a next three points to get to 4-2 and
later rattled off five games in a row to The 26-year-old Sakkari, a two-
beat the fifth-seeded Sakkari 6-3, 7-5 time Grand Slam semifinalist, made
at the All England Club. 30 unforced errors — including a
The 103-ranked Maria reached the forehand volley into the net on a
fourth round at a Grand Slam for the break-point chance in the sixth game.
first time in her 35th appearance at a "It was a very bad performance from
major. myself. Very disappointing," said
Sakkari, who has yet to get past the
"It's pretty awesome," Maria said. "I third round at Wimbledon. "I mean,
think I played a good match from the credit to Tatjana. She played very
beginning to the end." good. She played her game. I just
messed up with my game plan and
Maria's previous best at a Grand Slam everything."
was the third round at Wimbledon in
2015. Next up for Maria is 12th-seeded
Sakkari defeated Maria 6-4, 7-6 (2) in Jelena Ostapenko, the 2017 French
the first round of this year's Australian Open champion who advanced with
Open. The German said that match a 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory over Irina-
"gave me some confidence ... and Camelia Begu.