“It’s good to be at home”. After ten months of imprisonment in Russia, the superstar of women’s basketball Brittney Griner spoke for the first time this Friday, expressing her joy to be back on American soil. By the way, the basketball player indicated that she would play again in the league this season. “It’s good to be home. The past ten months have been a constant battle,” she said in an Instagram post, speaking publicly for the first time since her release.
She thanked in particular his wife Cherelle Griner, President Joe Biden and his Texas Phoenix Mercury team, for whom she assures that she will play again this season. “I want to make something very clear: I intend to play basketball for the WNBA Phoenix Mercury (North American Women’s Professional League) this season,” she pointed out.
The two-time Olympic champion only touched a basketball since her release last Friday, during a quick practice session at a military base in San Antonio, Texas.
An exchange of prisoners
Brittney Griner was arrested in February on drug trafficking charges when she was hired by the Russian team in Yekaterinburg during the American offseason, a common practice.
Sentenced to a nine-year prison term and then transferred to a penal colony in central Russia, the 32-year-old player was released after lengthy negotiations in exchange for Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who was serving a 25 years in an American prison. The latter landed in Russia on Thursday, according to a Russian public television channel.