Recent posts by Sonny Young:
Ayanleh Souleiman Earns Athletic Glory For Djibouti
Ayanleh Souleiman says he started running in 2008 after watching the Beijing Olympics on television. Now 21-years-old, the athlete from the small Horn of Africa country Djibouti appears ready to run for a medal in 2016 when he makes his Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Souleiman was hoping to compete at the 2012 […]
Beckenbauer Backs Libyan Football
German football great Franz Beckenbauer is backing Libya as it prepares to host the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations tournament. During a recent visit to the capital, Tripoli, the 68-year-old Beckenbauer participated in a ceremony to launch the building of a new 60,000-seat national stadium that will be used for the Nations Cup. Beckenbauer’s visit […]
Haile Gebrselassie Sets The Pace In London
The man regarded by many as the greatest distance runner of the modern era will lead perhaps the best marathon field ever assembled in London on April 13th. Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie has agreed to be the pacemaker for the elite men in the British capital. The plan is for Haile, who will be five […]
Ghana’s Yaro Has Right to Dream
As Joshua Yaro walked down one of the hallways at our Voice of America headquarters, he saw the photo on the left hanging on a wall and stopped to take a closer look. “I played on pitches just like that when I was growing up,” said Yaro, who recently completed his first season with the […]
Magic Mountain and Measuring Sticks
Former world #1 tennis star Andre Agassi heard some of the players complaining about the scorching heat at the Australian Open and tweeted the following: “Heat is not a curve it is an opportunity to separate yourself.” The 43-year-old Agassi won four of his eight Grand Slam singles titles in Australia, and the way he […]
LeBron James & Serena Williams: AP’s Athletes of the Year
Here’s a Sonny Side of Sports salute to basketball star LeBron James and tennis champion Serena Williams, who are the Associated Press’s 2013 male and female athletes of the year. Serena had what Gordon Smith, the executive director of the U.S. Tennis Association, describes as an unforgettable year. She had a record in singles of […]
Great Year for Nigeria Football
It’s been a great year for Nigeria football, with the country winning world and continental titles at the youth and senior levels. In February, Nigeria’s senior national team, nicknamed the Super Eagles, won its third Africa Cup of Nations trophy with a 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso in Johannesburg, South Africa. About nine months later, […]
Mandela the Fighter
Nelson Mandela fought for freedom and justice for all, a lifelong battle that was fueled, in part, by his love for boxing. Mandela was an amateur boxer in his younger days and he credited the sport with helping instill discipline and the will to withstand the blows of hatred and a long imprisonment. In his […]
Oladipo Delivers in Debut NBA Season
We’re now about one-quarter of the way through the National Basketball Association’s regular season, and Victor Oladipo is putting up numbers that make him a top contender for the league’s Rookie of the Year award. I last blogged about Oladipo almost five months ago, shortly after he was selected #2 overall by the Orlando Magic […]