Hammon to Join Russia Olympic Basketball Squad

© RIA Novosti . Pavel Lisitsin / Go to the mediabankBecky Hammon (right)
Becky Hammon (right) - Sputnik International
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Naturalized Russian basketball guard Becky Hammon will join up with the national team in mid-July ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, coach Boris Sokolovsky has said.

Naturalized Russian basketball guard Becky Hammon will join up with the national team in mid-July ahead of the London 2012 Olympics, coach Boris Sokolovsky has said.

Hammon provoked fury in the United States when she became a Russian citizen in 2008 to compete in the bronze medal-winning Olympic team for Russia after failing to make the cut for the Americans.

“We’re expecting her arrival in the Czech Republic in June for preparation matches in the middle of July,” Sokolovsky said on the website of the Russian Basketball Federation on Saturday.

The federation had tried to obtain Hammon earlier but had been unable to agree a deal with the WNBA and her San Antonio Silver Stars team, the coach said.

Sokolovsky is not worried about Hammon’s fitness as she joins mid-way through the WNBA season, he said.

“Well, you can argue that Hammon will be in good physical condition, match fit.”

Hammon, a six-time WNBA All-Star, is one of 20 players named in a preliminary squad of 20 that will be whittled down to a final squad of 12 for the Olympics.

One notable absentee from that squad, however, is small forward Svetlana Abrosimova, a WNBA championship winner with the Seattle Storm in 2010 and Olympic bronze medalist in 2008.

Abrosimova, 31, has not played enough for her team UGMK Ekaterinburg in the Russian league to merit an Olympic place, Sokolovsky said.

“We have great respect for her achievements, but Svetlana has received little game time in the last two seasons and that’s the main reason why the coaching staff made the difficult decision not to include her in the list of real candidates.”

Hammon and Abrosimova played together at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, when Russia’s women’s team won its first Olympic medal, denying host team China 94-81 in the bronze medal game.

At the time of Hammon's switch, U.S. national team coach Anne Donovan publically questioned her patriotism.

 

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