Officials meet with Griner’s WNBA team
WASHINGTON » State Department officials met Monday with representatives of Brittney Griner’s WNBA team about the Phoenix Mercury star’s monthslong detention in Russia and the Biden administration’s efforts to secure her release.
The State Department confirmed the meeting, which involved officials from its specialized office that advocates for hostages and wrongfully detained Americans, but offered no additional details about what was said or who specifically attended.
The administration has previously said that its working to bring Griner and another American, Michigan corporate security executive Paul Whelan, home from Russia.
Griner was detained on Feb. 17 at an airport in Russia after authorities there said a search of her bag revealed vape cartridges containing a cannabis derivative. In May, the State Department reclassified Griner as wrongfully detained and transferred oversight of her case to the State Department Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, or SPEHA.
NHL
WINNIPEG BREWERY TO TROTZ: FREE BEER FOR LIFE TO COACH JETS » A Winnipeg
brewery says it will give Barry Trotz free beer for life if he returns to his native province to coach the Jets.
Little Brown Jug Brewing Company and a local sports talk show launched the campaign Monday, several months into the NHL club’s coaching search. Trotz became available a month ago when he was fired by the New York Islanders.
The idea sprung from a conversation between Little Brown Jug founder Kevin Selch and office administrator and liaison James Hofer in their taproom late last week.
“Just thought it would be a little fun initiative,” Hofer said. “We thought people would get a kick out of it and who knows, maybe it might get the coach here.”
Soccer
RAPINOE, MORGAN BACK FOR US FOR WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS » Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan have been included on the U.S. roster for next month’s CONCACAF W Championship, which will determine four of the region’s teams in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.
Rapinoe and Morgan have not been named to a U.S. roster since last October as coach Vlatko Andonovski looked at younger players in the run-up to qualifying. The United
States is the two-time defending World Cup champion.
Twenty-three players were named to the qualifying roster, and three others — Sam Coffey, Carson Pickett and Jaelin Howell — were added to the training camp in advance of a pair of friendlies later this month against Colombia.
AUSTRALIA QUALIFIES FOR WORLD CUP AFTER EDGING PERU »
Australia qualified for a fifth straight World Cup after a 5-4 penalty shootout win over Peru in their intercontinental playoff.
The teams failed to score in regulation and extra time at Ahmad bin Ali Stadium, and goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, sent on as a substitute in the dying
seconds of extra time, proved to be the star for Australia by saving the last penalty from Alex Valera.
Gymnastics
SACRAMONE QUINN, MEMMEL EMBRACE NEW ROLES AT USA GYMNASTICS » Alicia Sacramone Quinn and Chellsie Memmel walked through the fire together for much of their decorated gymnastics careers, becoming more than just teammates as they traveled the globe for one of the U.S. Olympic movement’s marquee programs.
USA Gymnastics is leaning on that chemistry to help lead the organization into a new era, one the national governing body insists remains focused on being steadfastly transparent and athlete-centric as it plots a way forward in the wake of the Larry Nassar scandal.
Quinn and Memmel — who helped the Americans claim silver at the 2006 world championships and 2008 Olympics during their lengthy run with Team USA — have pledged to be part of the solution.
The longtime friends have joined Dan Baker as part of USA Gymnastics’ new leadership model that divided the high-performance director position vacated late last year by Tom Forster into three equitable positions.
Memmel will serve as the technical lead, with Baker in charge of development and Quinn heading strategy as part of a new paradigm designed to make sure no one person within the women’s program exerts too much influence.
Tennis NONE OF FEDERER, NADAL, DJOKOVIC IN ATP TOP 2; 1ST SINCE ‘03 »
None of the socalled Big Three of men’s tennis — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — was in the No. 1 or No. 2 spots in the ATP rankings on Monday, the first time that’s been the case in nearly 20 years.
Daniil Medvedev rose one place to return to No. 1, where he briefly spent time earlier this season, and Alexander
Zverev moved up to a career-best No. 2.
Djokovic slid from No. 1 to No. 3, because his points for winning the French Open in 2021 dropped off his record on Monday. The ATP rankings are based on a player’s top 18 tournament results over the preceding 52 weeks (19 if he participated in the ATP Tour Finals).
MLB DONALDSON’S 1-GAME BAN UPHELD BY MLB »
Major League Baseball has upheld Josh Donaldson’s one-game suspension, a penalty that was assessed after the New York Yankees third baseman made a remark to White Sox star Tim Anderson about Jackie Robinson that Chicago manager Tony La Russa called racist.
MLB special adviser John McHale upheld the penalty after hearing Donaldson’s appeal on Thursday, a person familiar with the discipline told The Associated Press. The person spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because McHale’s decision was not announced.
Donaldson’s fine was cut in half by McHale to $5,000, the person said. Donaldson will serve the penalty during the Yankees’ series opener against Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.