Ogwumike sisters among Team USA Olympic player pool
Former Stanford All-Americans Nneka and Chiney Ogwumike were among the 29 players selected Thursday for the U. S. women’s basketball team pool — a step in the Olympic cycle that ends with the 2020 Tokyo Games.
The sisters, who were AllAmericans together at Stanford in 2012 and both No. 1 picks in the WNBA draft, have a chance to play on a team led by Sue Bird andDiana Taurasi, who have each won four Olympic gold medals and helped the U. S. to the past two world championships.
Eleven members of the 2016 Olympic team that won a sixth consecutive gold medal for the Americans are in the pool.
The only player missing from that team is Tamika Catchings, who retired after the 2016WNBA season.
The U.S. already has qualified for next year’s FIBA World Cup, which will be held in Spain.
There are five college players in the pool: UConn’s Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson; South Carolina’s A’jaWilson; Ohio State’s Kelsey Mitchell; and Louisville’s Asia Durr. WHITE FAILS TO REACH FINAL » ShaunWhite fell during the qualifying round of the Dew Tour in Breckenridge, Colo., and did not reach the final of the second Olympic qualifying event.
The two-time Olympic champion finished 14th. He will have two events in January in Snow-
mass and Mammoth Mountain to secure his spot in the Pyeongchang Olympics.
Three men will make the U.S. Olympic halfpipe team based on their two best results from the four qualifying events. White finished third last week in CopperMountain. Team coaches also have discretionary picks, making it unlikely White would be left out. PUTIN ACCUSES U. S. OF MANIPU
LATINGEVIDENCE » Russian President Vladimir Putin accused U. S. agencies of manipulating evidence from the main whistleblower on doping at the 2014 Sochi Olympics.
Putin said Thursday that former Moscow anti-doping laboratory director Grigory Rodchenkov, who is under witness protection after fleeing to the United States last year, is “under the control” of the American agencies, including the FBI.
Rodchenkov being in the United States “is not a positive for us, it’s a negative. It means he’s under the control of American special services,” Putin said. “What are they doing with him there? Are they giving him some kind of substances so that he says what’s required?”
Putin added that Rodchenkov should never have been appointed to run Moscow’s anti-doping laboratory in the first place.
Cycling
FROOME MAINTAINS INNOCENCE » Chris Froome’s renewed protes- tations of innocence were accompanied by doubts about why the four-time Tour de France champion was not immediately suspended for failing a doping test.
Froome has been ordered to explain to the International Cycling Union why a urine sample he provided at the Spanish Vuelta in September showed a concentration of the asthma drug salbutamol that was twice the permitted level.
While accepting the case is “damaging” for a sport scarred for years by doping scandals, Froome maintained Team Sky has the evidence to prove he is not guilty of cheating.
“I know that within me fundamentally I have followed the protocol and I have not overstepped any boundaries,” Froome said, “and I hope by the end of this process that will be clear to everyone and I’ll be exonerated of any wrongdoing.”
Froome offered a defense of his integrity in an interviewwith Sky, the broadcaster that owns his cycling team.
College football
UCF’SFROSTWINSCOACHOFYEAR » Scott Frost, who led Central Florida to a perfect regular season before taking the Nebraska job, won the Eddie Robinson Award as the national coach of the year.
In his second season at UCF, Frost guided the Knights to a 12-0 record, the American Athletic Conference championship and a Peach Bowl bid. He still expects to coach UCF in its bowl game.
The other finalists were: Bill Clark of UAB; Lane Kiffin of Florida Atlantic; Jeff Monken of Army; Lincoln Riley of Oklahoma; Kirby Smart of Georgia; Dabo Swinney of Clemson; and Jeff Tedford of Fresno State. FREEMANWON’T PLAY » New Oregon coach Mario Cristobal announced senior running back Royce Freeman won’t play in the Las Vegas Bowl against Boise State on Saturday.
Oregon’s all- time leading rusher had practiced earlier this week in Las Vegas, leading to speculation he may play.
The Ducks coach did not say whether fellow senior Tyrell Crosby would play. SOONERS’ ANDERSON WON’T BE CHARGED » An Oklahoma prosecutor decided against charging Sooners running back Rodney Anderson with sexual assault, clearing a major cloud hanging over the teamahead of its College Football Playoff semifinal against Georgia.
“Definitely, charges are not warranted under these circumstances,” Cleveland County District Attorney Greg Mashburn said.
The accusation stemmed from a petition for a protective order in which a woman said Anderson assaulted her in her apartment last month and that she feared for her safety. Anderson had gone to her home after the two met during a night of drinking. GEORGIA PLAYER CLEARED » A marijuana possession charge against Georgia starting inside linebacker Natrez Patrick was dismissed, apparently clearing the way for him to play in the Rose Bowl semifinal game.
Coach Kirby Smart has not commented on Patrick’s status for the Jan. 1 contest against Oklahoma.
Golf
ROSELEADSININDONESIA » Justin Rose shot a 10-under 62 to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Indonesian Masters in Jakarta.
Rose, starting on the back nine at Royale Jakarta Golf Club, had five birdies to go out in 31, then birdied four of five holes midway through his final nine and another birdie on his last hole.
Soccer
PULISICNAMED PLAYER OF YEAR » Nineteen-year- old Christian Pulisic has become the youngest winner of the U. S. Soccer Federation’s Male Player of the Year award. The USSF said Pulisic received 94 percent of the votes. Landon Donovan had been the youngest winner, earning the honor at 21 in 2003. SOUNDERSADDTODEFENSE » Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders have bolstered their defense by acquiring defender Waylon Francis from Columbus in exchange for $50,000. Seattle also re-signed goalkeeper Bryan Meredith.