Basketball
“I don’t know if I can take it.” American champion goes crazy in a Russian prison
Brittney Greiner / Photo: © RIA Novosti / Anton Denisov
Greiner’s wife complains to the president. Biden inspires confidence, but will he take risks on the eve of the election?
Two-time Olympic basketball champion from the United States Brittney Griner continues to be in a Russian prison. Some time ago, an American basketball player insisted that she could not be broken. Now she is close to despair and is afraid to stay in places of detention forever.
Afraid not to be in time before the elections?
“Brittney’s not okay”
American basketball player Brittney Griner is serving time in a penal colony. An athlete punished for drug smuggling can stay behind bars for a long time – the court sentenced her to nine years in prison. There is, of course, the option of early release, but this requires an agreement between the top leadership of Russia and the United States regarding the exchange.
Perhaps the two-time Olympic champion hoped that she would be exchanged much faster, because the United States authorities have repeatedly announced their intention to get Greiner out of prison. But so far everything is somehow going with a creak – the proposal to exchange two American prisoners for one Russian one does not arouse great enthusiasm among decision makers in Russia. Brittney, apparently, is starting to get nervous, realizing that the chance to stay in prison for many years is quite real.
Brittney is not well. From her there were a lot of disturbing messages about the state of health. This worried me a lot. She’s going crazy. We have reached a point where even a strong person says: “Honey, I don’t know how long I can endure this,” Sherel Greiner, the wife of basketball player, quotes CNN.
“Do Your Best”
Even before Griner’s verdict was announced, and the representatives of the United States of all irons called for the release of the athlete just like that, Brittney was much more confident in herself. She declared that she was hardened, she could not be broken, although even then she assumed that upon returning home it would take some time to recover. In early July, the nerves of the UMMC star may have begun to fail. At least in her letter to President Joe Biden, timed to coincide with Independence Day, there were already some panic notes.
“Please do everything in your power to bring me home. When I sit in a Russian prison alone with my thoughts, without family and without friends, I am afraid that I might stay here forever. On July 4th, our family usually honors those who fought for our freedom, including my father, a Vietnam War veteran. Please do your best. In 2020, I voted for you and believe in your help, – Politico quoted Greiner as saying.
Whether Biden is doing everything possible to return the American is a debatable issue. But at least he meets with the basketball player’s wife to give her confidence in the favorable outcome of the case. Of course, it would be possible to agree to the proposal of the Russian side and exchange the prisoners according to the “two for two” scheme. Such a move could really bring Griner as close as possible to returning to the United States, but what if the voters do not understand the maneuver?
On the eve of the November elections to the House of Representatives, any step that allows to doubt the power of American diplomacy is undesirable for the country’s leadership, so is it worth agreeing to Russian conditions? True, if the loud promise is not fulfilled before the election day on November 8, there will be a risk that the US authorities will cool down on the issue of Greiner’s release. And in such a situation, Brittney’s excitement with an admixture of real panic is quite understandable.
Source: Sportbox
I am a sports journalist who has been writing for a news website since 2015. My work primarily focuses on sports news, but I have also written about other topics such as technology and the arts. I have an extensive background in journalism, having worked as a reporter for a local newspaper before moving to a news website.
Bayern announced the appointment of the team’s head coach on its official website. Svetislav Pesic.
The most successful coach in German basketball history signed a contract with Munich until the end of the season.
The Serbian specialist will replace Gordon Herbert as head coach, with whom the German champions agreed to end their cooperation early by mutual consent.
76-year-old Pesic took over as head of Bayern Munich for the second time. He first joined the Munich team in the autumn of 2012 and remained with them until 2016, winning the first Bundesliga title in the club’s history in 2014.
Svetislav’s greatest achievements include the 2002 World Cup title with Yugoslavia, the 1993 European Championship victory with the German team, and the gold medal at EuroBasket 2001 with Yugoslavia. At club level, the Serbian specialist won the treble in Spain, including winning the Euroleague with Barcelona in 2003. Alba won five championships and two German Cups with Berlin.
In 2024, Pesic won the Olympic bronze medal with the Serbian national team, which he led until last summer, by beating Germany and finishing third in the match.
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
Head coach of BC Zaporozhye Dmitry Shchiglinsky He summarized the results of the team’s last matches in 2025 against Krivbass (68:84) and Niko-Basket (78:67).
“Going into the last calendar bubble this year we clearly understood how important this was for us in terms of tournament position. “Krivbass” were right behind us in the table and “Niko-Basket” were playing at home, so both matches promised to be extremely difficult. We were also without our captain Anton Buts, who was injured, which significantly affected the preparations.
We had a bad start to our match against Krivbass, the opponent scored their first long range shots, became confident and kept control of the match for most of the game. We managed to reduce the difference to 4 points in the fourth quarter, but unfortunately we did not have the strength to do more. Krivbass’ last attack with 11:0 gave them an important victory. In the absence of Anton Buts, they had to use rotation and it was not easy for Vyacheslav Kiktev to counter the opponent’s big players.
Our expectations were also the highest for our second match against Niko-Basket. We recently met with this team at the Ukrainian Cup and made a comprehensive analysis. I would like to thank my assistant for her quality work. We analyzed the mistakes in the previous match in detail and focused on playing defense. Even though we made many interventions at the beginning of the match, we could not immediately gain the scoring advantage. The team added more after the first quarter. There were quick breaks, easy points and a more organized attack, and these ultimately brought results. We got the win we needed.
Overall, I am happy with the results of this dough. We maintained our place among the top four teams in the Super League, so I evaluate the performance positively. Playing without one of the starting five players is a serious challenge for our team. I thank the men for their character; “After the defeat in the first match, no one gave up and the next day we played a high-quality game, first of all, as a single team.”
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
5 matches were played in the eighth round of the regular season in the Super League. Four more matches were played in Nikolaev and one in Rivne.
Six clubs played their matches during the weekend and the symbolic team was determined according to the results:
Mikhail Gorobchenko (Dnepr) – 8.5 points, 7.5 assists, 3.0 steals, 3.0 rebounds (PE 18.5)
Alexander Peacock (Krivbass) – 15.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists (PE 24.0)
Vladimir Konev (Dnepr) – 15.5 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists (PE 20.0)
Tarig Eisa (Zaporozhye) – 19.0 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 2.5 steals (PE 15.5)
Yaroslav Karpyuk (Kyiv-Sepet) – 15 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals (PE 23)
Dnepr forward was chosen as the MVP of the tour Vladimir Konev. The leader of the Ukrainian champions helped his team to two confident victories in Nikolaev. He recorded 13 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists (RE 16) in the match against Niko-Basket (96:56) and 18 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists (RE 24) against Kryvbas (77:58). In these two games, Vladimir showed high efficiency in attack, converting 7 out of 11 three-point shots and 4 out of 6 two-point shots.
Source: Sport UA
Ralph Bean is a writer for Sportish. Ralph has written about sports news for the last two years, and is currently an author on the site. He enjoys writing about sports, and hopes to cover more stories in the future.
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