RUS - Russians gear up for Olympic qualifiers

MOSCOW (EuroBasket Women) - Becky Hammon is the big omission in Russia's preliminary squad for the EuroBasket Women.

Hammon is the American playmaker who has been with the national team since the 2008 Olympics in China but injuries troubled her at the 2010 FIBA World Championship for Women and this season in Russia's top flight, leading to an early termination of her contract by Nadezdha Orenburg.

Sparta&K M.R. Vidnoje's Epiphanny Prince, a 23-year-old combo guard, has been included the squad. Prince averaged 16.6 points per game this season for a surprising Sparta&K side that reached the EuroLeague Women title game in Ekaterinburg.

The New York-born star was not with the 18-strong squad on Tuesday when they began their preparations at a training camp in Cyprus but like national team captain Maria Stepanova of UMMC Ekaterinburg will join the group later in the preparations.

Russia still have plenty of veterans in the squad, including Irina Osipova, Ilona Korstin, Svetlana Abrosimova and Olga Arteshina - all members of last year's team that was upset by Belarus in the Quarter-Finals of the World Championship.

As part of their build-up to the EuroBasket, Russia will take part in a warm-up tournament in at the end of May hosted by the Czech Republic and take on Latvia, Poland and the Czechs. They also compete in France along with Belarus, Canada and the French in another warm-up event.

Russia, who are coached by Boris Sokolovskiy, will be in Group A at the EuroBasket Women with Turkey, Slovakia and Lithuania. The tournament tips off on June 18.

Preliminary squad: Tatiana Vidmer, Irina Osipova, Natalia Vieru, Nadezhda Grishaeva, Marina Kuzina, Natalya Myasoedova, Svetlana Abrosimova, Olga Arteshina, Liudmila Sapova, Anna Petrakova, Maria Cherepanova, Tatiana Petrushina, Ilona Korstin, Ekaterina Ruzanova, Elena Danilochkina, Evgenia Belyakova, Katerina Keyru and Tatiana Popova.