Hawai'i volleyball should be well-represented in the Beijing Olympics.

One third of the 12 players nominated to represent the U.S. women's squad has ties to the Islands, including former University of Hawai'i All-Americans Robyn Ah Mow-Santos, Heather Bown and Kim Willoughby. Also nominated to the squad, which needs official confirmation by the U.S. Olympic Committee, is Punahou alum Lindsey Berg.

Ah Mow-Santos played for UH from 1993-96, earning AVCA first-team All-America honors in 1995 and '96. She will be making her third Olympic appearance, serving as the starting setter in 2000 and '04.

Bown played two years at UH, earning AVCA first-team All-America honors in 1998 and '99. The middle blocker will also be making her third Olympic appearance, having played in 2000 and '04.

Willoughby, an outside hitter who will be making her first appearance in the Olympics, played at UH from 2000-03, earning AVCA first-team All-America honors from 2001-03.

Berg was an All-Big Ten setter for Minnesota from 1999-2001.

Also nominated to the U.S. squad were Nicole Davis, Kim Glass, Tayyiba Haneef-Park, Jennifer Joines, Ogonna Nnamani, Danielle Scott-Arruda, Stacy Sykora and Logan Tom.

BASEBALL

San Diego State pitcher Stephen Strasburg, whose 23-strikeout performance on April 11 brought him national attention, was the lone college player picked yesterday for the U.S. baseball team headed to the Beijing Olympics.

Outfielder Matt LaPorta, traded by Milwaukee to Cleveland earlier this month in the CC Sabathia deal, also is on manager Davey Johnson's squad of mostly minor leaguers.

Also named to the team was former Hawaii Winter Baseball All-Star Dexter Fowler, a Colorado Rockies outfield prospect who played for the Waikiki BeachBoys in 2006.

Team USA still has one player to be selected to fill the 24-man roster.

"We've got a great ballclub," Johnson said. "It's going to be a great stepping stone for all the players."

The team's first game is against Korea on Aug. 13. Team USA, which won gold in Sydney in 2000, is back in the Olympics after missing out on a bid in 2004.

The U.S. team features 14 Triple-A players, seven Double-A players and one Class-A representative.

Strasburg turns 20 on Sunday and is pitching overseas for the U.S. national team as a member of the top college players in the country.

BOXING

USA Boxing reinstated Luis Yanez to the Olympic team yesterday, more than two weeks after the light flyweight was kicked off the Beijing roster for missing several weeks of workouts.

Yanez was dropped from the team after he was absent for most of June from the Olympic team's residency training program in Colorado Springs. Coach Dan Campbell and USA Boxing CEO Jim Millman said they didn't hear from Yanez, who was home in Duncanville, Texas, until shortly before they sent a formal letter setting a final deadline for his return.

Yanez, who fights in 106-pound class, will rejoin the team in Colorado Springs. The team will head to San Jose, Calif., on Monday for final processing before leaving for Beijing next week.

GYMNASTICS

Morgan Hamm's spot on the U.S. Olympic team is secure.

USA Gymnastics said yesterday that a warning Hamm received earlier this month for getting a prescribed anti-inflammatory shot without proper clearance from anti-doping authorities did not affect his qualification to the team.

"It's really a relief," Hamm told The Associated Press. "Now I can concentrate on gymnastics without having any other distractions."