RUS - Lack of playing time costs Abrosimova NT place

MOSCOW (Olympics) - Russia have a pool of 20 players they will choose from to compete at the London Olympics.

One of the familiar faces in recent times, Svetlana Abrosimova, is not among them.

National team coach Boris Sokolovsky paid tribute to the 31-year-old and explained that her exclusion was down to the lack of time on the court she has received at UMMC Ekaterinburg.

"The last two seasons, Svetlana has been getting very little playing time, and this is the main reason why the coaching staff made a difficult decision not to include Abrosimova in the number of actual candidates," Sokolovsky said.

Abrosimova has travelled to the United States, where she competed for USA coach Geno Auriemma at the University of Connecticut and has also played in the WNBA.

She went on Twitter to voice her disappointment.

“Last couple of days were tough for me because of sudden changes in Russian Olympic roster. So it's good 2 come back to US & have time 2 regroup,” she tweeted.

Sokolovsky, as expected, has included Becky Hammon, the naturalized Russian from the United States.

Hammon played at the Beijing Games and also turned out for the national side the following two summers but skipped last year.

The playmaker will not be with Russia at the start of the team's preparations, however, as she is competing with San Antonio in the WNBA.

While Russia's veteran center Maria Stepanova will miss the Olympics after tearing her ACL during the EuroLeague Women Final Eight in Istanbul at the end of April, the team has plenty of talent that makes them a leading contender to reach the podium in London.

One of the emerging centers in the national side is Natalia Vieru, who impressed with her performances at Good Angels Kosice in Slovakia’s top flight and the EuroLeague Women this season.

Vieru, who turns 23 three days before the start of the Olympic Women's Tournament, averaged 9.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game.

She will play for Russian giants Sparta&K Moscow Region in 2012-13.

Russia are joint second in the FIBA Rankings with Australia.

In London, they will compete in Group B against Australia, Brazil, hosts Great Britain and two sides that come out of the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Ankara, Turkey.

The national team will launch its preparations on 27 May.

Russian preliminary squad for Olympic Basketball Tournament for Women: Olga Arteshina, Evgenia Belyakova, Tatiana Vidmer, Natalia Vieru, Natalia Vodopyanova, Nadezhda Grishaeva, Elena Danilochkina, Natalia Zhedik, Katerina Keyru, Ilona Korstin, Marina Kuzina, Ekaterina Lisina, Natalya Myasoedova, Irina Osipova, Anna Petrakova, Tatiana Popova, Irina Sokolovskaya, Becky Hammon, Maria Cherepanova and Anastasiya Shilova.

FIBA