Griner rejoins WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury

WASHINGTON—Brittney Griner, the American basketball star imprisoned in Russia for nearly 10 months last year, has signed a one-year Women’s NBA deal with the Phoenix Mercury, the team announced Tuesday.

Griner rejoined the team she helped lead to a 2014 WNBA crown and played for over nine seasons before missing last year’s campaign while in Russia.

After she was released in a prisoner exchange last December, Griner said she planned to return to her WNBA career and play again for Phoenix.

“It’s a great day for all of us to announce that Brittney Griner has officially signed to play for the Mercury in 2023,” Mercury general manager Jim Pitman said.

“We missed BG every day that she was gone and, while basketball was not our primary concern, her presence on the floor, in our locker room, around our organization, and within our community was greatly missed.” Griner, a 32-year-old center who helped the US women capture Olympic gold at Tokyo and Rio, was arrested on drug smuggling charges last February after a small amount of cannabis oil was found in her luggage.

Her detention became a major global issue, deemed wrongful imprisonment by US of ficials.

“We will continue to use the resources of our organization to support her, on and off the floor, and we are thrilled for her that she gets to return to basketball, which she loves so dearly,” Pitman said.

“This is a special signing and today is a special day for all of us.”

Eligibility, qualifies one for first and second level positions such as professional, technical, and scientific positions that require four years of college education.

Griner last played for the Mercury in 2021, when she helped Phoenix reach the WNBA Final, which was lost to Chicago.

Phoenix’s season opener is set for May 19 at Los Angeles with the home debut two nights later against Chicago.

“I know none of us will ever forget what it will feel like to welcome her back onto her home floor on May 21,” Mercury business operations president Vince Kozar said.

“To know BG is to love and appreciate BG and we can’t wait to show her that in person.” AFP the 10th Singapore Open Dancesports Championships last November 5.

Melencio, together with partner Jumil Edera Bacalso, will be rocking the global dance floor when they compete in the Amateur Open Latin of 2023 Asia Open Dance TourAsian Open Dance Championships in Tokyo on February 26 against 30 competitive couples.

“I have been in the dance sports competitions since I was six or seven. I really love this sport. And aside from competing, I also teach aspiring dance athletes in different fields— basics and advance,” Melencio said.

“But I still compete internationally, which I love most. I love winning not only for myself but also for our country,” she added. “It’s not just expressing our inner self when we dance, it also shows the proper perfect movement, the grace and how competitive you are.”

Melencio and Bacalso are also set to dance in the 2023 World Grand Prix Open in Taipei, Taiwan on April 9, before throwing joining the 2023 Blackpool Dance Festival on May 20 to June 2, 2023 at the Winter Gardens Church Street Blackpool in London.

The eldest among the family of dancers was also a champion in Singapore Millennium International Open DanceSports Championships in both junior Open Standard and Latin categories in August, 2004.

Melencio has proven herself at the local and global stages, winning the Juvenile Latin and Standard titles from 1998 to 2000 in the Philippines and the 2002 junior Latin and Standard crowns in the World Superstars Dance Festival in Tokyo, Japan.

Melencio has many achievements throughout her career, including her ninth-place finish among hundreds of participants in the 2nd International Sports Games “Children of Asia” Sports Dancing Event Junior 1 Latin American Discipline in Yakutsk, Russia in 2000.

Besides winning, Melencio has trained and produced a lot of competitive dancing pairs since 2007, when she was 17, up to now, including rising star amateur level younger sister Judilyn Melencio and Benny Co.

“It’s a great feeling to share your knowledge in dancesports as well, but I still love to compete and win,” she said.