Tag: African sportsmen in America

Sports

Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei Breaks Marathon World Record in Chicago

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.

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Sports

Israel Adesanya: ‘Once the Nigerians pull up … it’s gonna be over for a lot of years in the MMA world’

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’” →
People

South African swimmer Ali Basel takes on senior year at Iowa State

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.”

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Sports

Kenyan wins 2019 Montreal Marathon after race starts with 50-minute delay

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.

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Achievements

Former Kenyan Athlete to be Inducted into Athletics Hall-of-Fame in Iowa


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.

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Sports

These Seven Nigerians are part of the Minnesota vikings roster

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.

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People

Meet Ornella Sathoud, who holds a PhD in Analytical Chemistry and is representing Ghana in boxing at the All Africa Games

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” →
Sports

African boys win Jr NBA international pool, go on to global final

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.

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Sports

Jackson State University students go to Ghana, gain understanding of ‘Sankofa’

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.

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Business, Communities

Former NBA star, Luol Deng, helps South Sudanese forge a path in America

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.

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Athletics

Kenya’s Jepkosgei, Korio win 2019 Beach to Beacon

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.

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News

Nigerian-born Wale Omotosho defeats Curtis Stevens in Brooklyn, New York

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.

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People

Prince Tega Wanogho discusses ‘Bobo the giraffe,’ misconceptions about life in Nigeria

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.

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Sports

Nigerian Efe Ajagba out-punches Demirezen

Remains undefeated after 11 fights, although this was a much harder test.

By Keith Idec

Ali Eren Demirezen demonstrated Saturday night that Efe Ajagba remains very much a work in progress. The previously unbeaten Turkish heavyweight gave Ajagba the toughest fight of the Nigerian knockout artist’s two-year pro career. Ajagba went the distance for the first time in 11 professional fights and had difficulty dealing with Demirezen’s pressure at times in a fight that seemed more competitive than two of the three scorecards suggested.

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People

Is This 19-Year-Old the Next Great Kenyan Runner?

Rhonex Kipruto has ran the fastest 10km on American soil and wowed his coaches and competitors. So what makes him stand out in a country ripe with running talent?

By Adharanand Finn

Identifying the next big running star in Kenya, from the country’s incredible wealth of raw, hungry talent, is no easy thing. But for coach Ian Kiprono, a then 15-year-old Rhonex Kipruto stood out even as a scrawny, barefoot kid in a cross-country race a few years ago.

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