At the Big Ten Cross Country Championships in 2018, then-junior Ohio State cross country runner Alex Lomong ran the third-fastest outdoor 800-meter time in program history.
Nearly three decades earlier, his brother Lopez Lomong ran for his life, escaping entrapment as a child soldier in South Sudan during the Second Sudanese Civil War.
Continue reading “CROSS COUNTRY: LOMONG BROTHERS RUN TO BETTER LIFE IN U.S.”
BY JOSEPH MAYALL
Kamaru Usman inside the UFC Octagon
No stranger to variety, the podcast of UFC commentator Joe Rogan, The Joe Rogan Experience, has been the launchpad for countless remarkable stories that span a gamut of topics from bowhunting, to artificial intelligence, to zany conspiracy theories, and everything in between.
One of the podcast’s more fascinating discussions was provided by UFC welterweight champion Kamaru “The Nigerian Nightmare” Usman: during his appearance on the show, Usman made it known that his father, Muhammed Usman, was serving a 15-year sentence in a federal penitentiary for crimes Kamaru believes his father didn’t commit.
Continue reading “The Nigerian-American Nightmare: The remarkable story of Kamaru Usman’s father”
A record that seemed untouchable for years fell in 2:14:04. The run whacked 81 seconds off the previous women’s mark.
By Matthew Futterman and Talya Minsberg
This city lived up to its billing as host of America’s fastest major marathon on Sunday as Brigid Kosgei of Kenya set a women’s world record.
A day after Eliud Kipchoge broke the two-hour barrier for the 26.2-mile distance, albeit in an event that did not count as a world record, his countrywoman Kosgei shattered Paula Radcliffe’s world marathon record, which no woman had come close to in the past 16 years.
Continue reading “Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei Breaks Marathon World Record in Chicago”
Inside the strong and growing bond between the top Nigerian fighters in UFC
BY DORIC SAM
Israel Adesanya had never met Sodiq Yusuff despite the fact that both fighters hail from Lagos, Nigeria. But Adesanya, who has lived in New Zealand since he was 11, had the good fortune of making the four-hour trip to Australia in December to watch Fight Night 142: Adelaide, where Yusuff would be making his UFC debut.
Continue reading “Israel Adesanya: ‘Once the Nigerians pull up … it’s gonna be over for a lot of years in the MMA world’”
By Megan Teske
Ali Basel came to the United States from South Africa without her parents and overcame shoulder surgery her sophomore year. Now a senior, Basel is looking to help lead her team in what she calls a “comeback season.”
Continue reading “South African swimmer Ali Basel takes on senior year at Iowa State”
Boniface Kongin of Kenya won the Montreal marathon on Sunday, finishing the 42-kilometre race in two hours, 15 minutes and 18 seconds. He beat Mohamed Aagab of Morocco (2:19:43) and fellow Kenyan Isaac Maiyo (2:23:17) to the finish line at Place des Arts.
Continue reading “Kenyan wins 2019 Montreal Marathon after race starts with 50-minute delay”
Retired Kenyan athlete Barnaba Korir is to be inducted to Iowa State Athletics Hall-of-Fame.
Korir, who currently serves as Athletics Kenya (AK) director in charge of youth and development, is among six sports personalities who will be inducted to Iowa State Athletics Hall-of-Fame.
Continue reading “Former Kenyan Athlete to be Inducted into Athletics Hall-of-Fame in Iowa”
By Lindsey Young
Seven players of Nigerian heritage are on the roster of NFLs Minnesota Viking. They include Ade Aruna, Bisi Johnson and Olisaemeka Udoh, Bené Benwikere, Kaare Vedvik, and brothers Ifeadi and Tito Odenigbo.
Continue reading “These Seven Nigerians are part of the Minnesota vikings roster”
USA-based Ghanaian boxer Ornella (Nelly) Sathoud is looking forward to making a big splash in Rabat, Morocco as Ghana participates in female boxing for the first time at the African Games.
Among Ghana’s boxing team is female boxer Ornella, a previously unknown athlete until she was named in the Ghana’s boxing team, Black Bombers, for the continental competition.
Continue reading “Meet Ornella Sathoud, who holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and is representing Ghana in boxing at the All Africa Games”
Basketball is progressing in Africa and so is the talent of the youth playing it, Refiloe Seiboko reports from Orlando, Florida
Somewhere in the United States, thousands and thousands of kilometres from home, a new generation of basketball players is being ushered in.
The Jr NBA Global Championship tournament which is underway for the second consecutive year in Orlando, Florida, is a youth basketball tournament for the top 13- and 14-year-old boys and girls from around the world. Three-hundred and sixteen teenagers have been competing and the semifinals began on Saturday.
Continue reading “African boys win Jr NBA international pool, go on to global final”
By Donna Ditota
About three weeks ago, Bourama Sidibe and John Bol Ajak were driven to New York City by a Syracuse basketball team manager to secure a visa that would enable them to travel to Italy with their Orange teammates.
Sidibe, a native of the African nation of Mali, carries a 5-year student visa, which enables him to stay in the United States until its expiration date. But to travel anywhere outside the U.S., Sidibe needs to secure a visa. Ajak, who came to America by way of South Sudan and then Kenya, is governed by the immigration laws of South Sudan and his case apparently was complicated by his restrictive immigration status.
Continue reading “Jackson State University students go to Ghana, gain understanding of ‘Sankofa’”
Deng, the son of a former Sudanese education minister who has returned to Africa, has become an economic force as well as a substantial taxpayer.
By Neal St. Anthony
Luol Deng, a 15-year NBA veteran and former Minnesota Timberwolf, was hanging with a bunch of South Sudanese immigrants and their kids one weekend last month.
Continue reading “Former NBA star, Luol Deng, helps South Sudanese forge a path in America”By Liam Nee
CAJoyciline Jepkosgei and Alex Korio, both of Kenya, won 2019 TD Beach to Beacon 10K Road Race in Cape Elizabeth. Jepkosgei, 25, finished in 31:05, averaging about 5-minute miles. It’s the race’s fastest time since Mary Keitany’s 30:41 course record set in 2017.
Continue reading “Kenya’s Jepkosgei, Korio win 2019 Beach to Beacon”
Nigerian-born junior middleweight boxer, Wale Omotoso won his first belt in America when he knocked out Brooklyn-born Curtis Stevens in the 3rd round of their scheduled 10 round fight at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The Nigerian pugilist floored his opponent in each round and brutally cut Stevens down in the 3rd round, forcing the referee to stop the fight. Wale Omotoshos now has a 28-4, 22 KOs, 1 NC fight record.
Continue reading “Nigerian-born Wale Omotosho defeats Curtis Stevens in Brooklyn, New York”
By Tom Green
Prince Tega Wanogho wants to tell you about his pet giraffe. His name is Bobo. He’s about 20 feet tall, and he’s still growing.
And before you ask, no, he isn’t actually real, but Wanogho wants you to believe he is. It’s something that Auburn’s preseason first-team All-SEC left tackle leans into, playing off the misconceptions of his native home, Nigeria, and it helps shed some light on what life has been like for him since emigrating to the United State five years ago.