MORGAN QUESTIONS GAME SITES
Forward Alex Morgan says the U.S. national team should have internal discussions about whether to play exhibition games in states that restrict transgender kids from participating in sports.
The team is currently preparing for the SheBelieves Cup, a round-robin tournament with Canada, Brazil and Japan that starts next week. Matches are scheduled in Florida and Texas, two states that have enacted laws aimed at transgender athletes.
“Looking at these games in Florida and Texas respectively, we’re going to need to continue to step it up, and have internal discussions as well with the team, because we’re not ones to shy away from hard conversation or taking a stand for what’s right,” Morgan said Wednesday during a conference call with reporters.
The U.S. women have previously criticized efforts to limit transgender kids from playing organized sports. Last year during a game in Texas, several players wore wristbands that said “Protect Trans Kids.”
Defender Becky Sauerbrunn wrote an op-ed last week for the Springfield News-Leader in her home state of Missouri defending the rights of transgender athletes. State lawmakers there are considering legislation to restrict transgender girls from taking part in girls sports.
Morgan praised Sauerbrunn as a true leader. Morgan also said playing in states that discriminate against transgender individuals is something “the team definitely needs to look at.”
More soccer
San Diego Wave FC will open the 2023 season with a pair of matches at Snapdragon Stadium, March 25 vs. Chicago and April 1 vs. North Carolina, and wrap at
home in mid-October, with a pseudo-break in between for the Women’s World Cup.
The team’s schedule was released by the National Women’s Soccer League on Wednesday. Teams will play 22 games over 22 weeks. The schedule should also allow top players to compete for their home countries in the Women’s World Cup, which runs from July 20-Aug. 20 in Australia and New Zealand.
• The San Diego Sockers (10-1) lost 10-4 at Empire Strykers (10-5-1), ending their 30-game regular-season winning streak and 17game road winning streak.
Women’s basketball
The WNBA says it is investigating Dearica Hamby’s allegations against the Las Vegas Aces. She says she was bullied and manipulated for being pregnant. She was traded Jan. 21 to the Los Angeles Sparks and made the allegations on social media.
• Jordin Canada, who played at UCLA, is staying with her hometown Los Angeles Sparks. The guard has been re-signed to a training
camp contract. Last season, Canada started 25 of 32 games and averaged 9.2 points, 5.5 assists, 2.3 rebounds and 1.4 steals in her first year with the Sparks.
Skiing
Two days after Federica Brignone won the gold medal in the combined to open the skiing world championships in Meribel, France, Italian teammate Marta Bassino added another in the super-G by edging Mikaela Shiffrin.
Shiffrin had to settle for silver in the super-G on Wednesday, two days after she didn’t finish the second leg of the combined. Goggia finished 11th.
Olympics
The International Olympic Committee pushed back against the mayor of Paris, insisting there were no plans for “a Russian or Belarusian delegation” at the 2024 Games while also acknowledging some athletes from those countries could be welcomed.
The IOC statement came a day after Paris Mayor
Anne Hidalgo said no Russians or Belarusians should be allowed to compete at next year’s Olympics because of their involvement in the war in Ukraine.
Olympic leaders have set out a path for athletes from Russia and Belarus who have not actively supported the war to try to qualify and compete as “neutral athletes” without a national identity such as team uniforms, flags and anthems.
Also
Two of the biggest names on the men’s entry list for the BNP Paribas Open are unlikely to play in the Southern California desert tournament. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal are injured. They got hurt during tournament play in Australia last month. Djokovic’s COVID-19 vaccination status also remains an issue for the tournament that runs from March 6 to 19 at Indian Wells.
• Italian skier Elena Fanchini has died after her career was cut short by a tumor. She was 37.