Sports

NBA Africa announces Season Two of ‘Born & Bred’ basketball documentary series

Published

2 weeks ago

September 2, 2024

NBA Africa has announced the return of the Season Two of its original documentary series, “Born & Bred”, which will premiere on the NBA App.

According to the announcement, the docuseries has with five episodes which tells the stories of current and former NBA Academy Africa student athletes drawn from Cameroon, Central African Republic, Egypt and Senegal as they pursue their basketball dreams at the academy and beyond.

“The Season Two of “Born & Bred” features the first NBA Academy Africa prospect drafted to the NBA Ulrich Chomche from Cameroon who got drafted into the Toronto Raptors; former NBA G League Ignite players, Babacar Sané (Utah Jazz; Senegal) and Thierry Darlan (Central African Republic), as well as current NBA Academy Africa prospects, Ali Assran (Egypt) and Modou Fall Thiam (Senegal).

“Chomche became the first prospect from one of the three NBA Academies around the world to be drafted directly to the NBA when he was selected 57th overall by the Memphis Grizzlies and traded to the Toronto Raptors in the 2024 NBA Draft.

“During his time at NBA Academy Africa, he was named the Defensive Most Valuable Player (MVP) at the 2022 Basketball Without Borders (BWB) Africa camp and participated in the Basketball Africa League’s (BAL) Elevate program, representing Rwanda Energy Group Basketball Club (REG BBC) in 2023 and Cameroon’s Forces Armées et Police in 2022.”

The first episode of the series titled, “Small Village. Big Dreams”, also featured Chomche and is available to watch on the NBA App.

‘All five episodes will be available to stream on the NBA App, with one episode releasing each week throughout September.

“Descriptions of each Season Two of the “Born & Bred” episode are include “Small Village. Big Dreams” featuring Ulrich Chomche, an 18-year-old forward from Bafang, Cameroon, who is set to make his NBA debut later this year during the 2024-25 NBA season. Chomche joined NBA Academy Africa in 2019.

“He represented Team World at the 2024 Nike Hoop Summit in Portland, Oregon in April, before declaring for the 2024 NBA Draft. He became the seventh Cameroonian to be drafted, joining Ruben Boumtje-Boumtje (NBA Draft 2001), Luc Mbah a Moute (NBA Draft 2008), seven-time NBA All-Star and 2022-23 Kia NBA MVP Joel Embiid (NBA Draft 2014), two-time NBA All-Star Pascal Siakam (NBA Draft 2016), Christian Koloko (NBA Draft 2022) and Yves Missi (NBA Draft 2024).

Episode 2 titled “Birth of Young Ossoko” features Babacar Sané, a 20-year-old forward from Ziguinchor, Senegal. Following his breakthrough performances during the BAL’s second season, he spent two years with NBA G League Ignite, before going undrafted in the 2024 NBA Draft and signing with the Jazz earlier this month.

Episode 3 which is titled “Breaking Ground” features Ali Assran, a 17-year-old forward from Cairo, Egypt. Assran represented the U17 Egyptian national team at the 2024 FIBA Basketball World Cup and joined the NBA Academy Africa in 2023 which follows him as he continues to discover his passion for basketball while channeling his struggles into determination and finding solace on the court.

Episode 4, “The Quiet Leader” features Modou Fall Thiam, a 19-year-old from Senegal who joined NBA Academy Africa in 2023. Hailing from Yeumbeul, the athletic dunker faced an early injury which saw the young point guard sidelined in his second year at the academy.

Thiam details his journey of playing in several international tournaments, participating in the BAL’s third season as a BAL Elevate member of Nigeria’s Kwara Falcons, and the adversity of dealing with an injury as a young athlete.

Episode 5, “Against All Odds” features Thierry Darlan, who as a 20-year-old guard from Bangui, Central African Republic became the sixth NBA Academy graduate and third from the NBA Academy Africa to sign with NBA G League Ignite.

Named the MVP of the 2022 BWB Africa camp in Egypt, Darlan also led the academy team to a championship at the NBA Academy Games in Atlanta, Georgia the same year.

Following his BAL debut with Angola’s Petro de Luanda in 2022 as part of the BAL Elevate program, Darlan returned to the BAL in 2024, making his professional debut during the Nile Conference for Central African Republic’s Bangui Sporting Club.

Related Topics:Basketball Born & Bred Documentary Featured NBA Africa

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Sports

Faith Kipyegon considering moving to different discipline after 1,500m dominance

Published

6 hours ago

September 18, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Kenya’s multiple world and Olympics champion, Faith Kipyegon, says she is considering as switch to other distances next year after dominating the 1,500m for many years with no serious challengers.

The Kenyan Golden Girl who already has three Olympics titles, a world record, and as many world titles, which makes her the greatest female athlete in history over the distance, added a fifth Diamond League title to her trophy cabinet last weekend, and says a switch to other races to test herself is not off the table in 2025.

“I hope to stay strong and healthy towards next year and see what I am capable of doing. I don’t know if I will still do 1,500m or move to 5,000m but I hope for the best next year,” Kipyegon told Athletics Weekly after grabbing the Diamond League title.

Kipyegon stated that she has been motivated by other athletes who have contested different disciplines, such as Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen who made his half marathon debut last weekend, and Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, who has won titles in marathon, half marathon, 1,500m and 10,000m.

“I have seen Jakob is running in Copenhagen, I hope he gives me the motivation and I can also do half marathon.

“Also, Sifan Hassan doing half, marathon and coming to 1,500m, 5,000m, so I think it is only to twist how you think and say I am going to do this and hopefully we will do it,” she added.

Kipyegon has already proven that she has what it takes to compete in the 5,000m after winning a world title in Budapest last year, this coming after she had broken a world record, while she also claimed Olympics silver in Paris over the distance.

She had also previously expressed her interest in running a marathon in future and 2025 could be the year she starts the transition if she makes the decision.

Sports

Kenya’s female athletes maintain Diamond League dominance

Published

2 days ago

September 16, 2024

Isaac Dachen

Kenya’s female athletes have continued to prove their dominance at the Diamond League final in Brussels, Belgium, as they have scooped most of the titles to maintain their good record at major championships.

Out of the nine track events this far competed for in Brussels, Kenyan women athletes have picked four of them with some stunning performances recorded along the way.

Three of the four titles were won on the second day of the competition after world champion Mary Moraa had regained her 800m crown in superb fashion on Friday.

The Commonwealth champion ran a very tactical race to win the 800m Diamond Trophy in a season’s best 1:56.56, having saved the best for last, as she stormed to victory in the final 200m.

Moraa last won the trophy in 2022 before she was defeated by American Athing Mu last year but she made amends with her victory ahead of Britain’s Georgia Bell who clocked 1:57.50 and Jamaica’s Natoya Goule-Toppin, who completed the podium in 1:58.94.

On Saturday, 20-year-old Faith Cherotich stunned Olympics and world champion Winfred Yavi to claim the 3,000m steeplechase title.

With Yavi and former Olympics champion Peruth Chemutai of Uganda in the race, few gave Cherotich a chance at victory but she proved everyone wrong.

The world and Olympics bronze medallist timed her jumps at the water barriers to perfection while keeping Yavi in check, and at the final hurdle, she had already managed a good gap which she held on to win her first-ever Diamond League title.

Faith Kipyegon was the next to prove her mettle in the 1,500m and the three-time Olympics champion smashed the meeting record to clock 3:54.75 for her fifth Diamond League title.

Double Olympics champion Beatrice Chebet put the icing on the cake for the Kenyan women when she commanded the 5,000m race from start to finish.

Chebet left her rivals by a big gap as she lowered Almas Ayana’s meeting record by setting a new mark of 14:09.82 for her second Diamond League title.

Chebet had also won her first trophy in 2022 before missing out last year, but made amends in emphatic style. To show how dominant she was, second-placed Medina Eisa of Ethiopia came home in 14:21.89 to add to her world record in 10,000m, World Cross-Country title, two Olympics gold medals and now the Diamond League title in 2024.