US basketball star Brittney Griner has returned to the court for her first professional league game since her Russian captivity ordeal.
The two- time Olympic gold quarterfinalist was released from a Russian jail in a high- profile internee exchange with the US late last time after she was arrested in February 2022 on medicine charges. Griner lost no time in making her presence felt on Friday night, helping her side to an early lead against the Los Angeles Sparks, before they were ultimately overcome- losing 94- 71. She also entered a clinch from US Vice President Kamala Harris, who attended the game.
For the first time since last season, Phoenix trainer Vanessa Nygaard opened her pregame commentary without publicizing how numerous days Griner had been jugged. " We brought back this Black, gay woman from a Russian jail and America did that because they valued her and she's a womanish athlete and they valued her.
She added" moment is a day of joy. An amazing, amazing thing has happed." Just to be part of a group that values people at that position, it makes me veritably proud to be an American. announcement " perhaps there is other people that that does not make them proud, but for me, I see BG and I see stopgap and I see the future and I've youthful children and it makes me really hopeful about our country."
Tennis star Billie Jean King and woman Ilana Kloss, who are part- possessors of the Sparks, were also there for the game, as was Magic Johnson. Since her release, Griner has used her platform to crusade for other Americans being detained abroad. She was formerly an LGBTQ activist since intimately coming out in 2013.
Nygaard said" She stands for so numerous people, so numerous different kind of people who can be underrated in our society. " She stands with pride and confidence and has no way formerly has nestled down from who she is.
Griner blazoned in April that she's working with Bring Our Families Home, a crusade formed last time by the family members of American hostages and unlawful detainees held overseas. She said her platoon has been in contact with the family of Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, who's being detained in Russia on spying charges.
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