Sonny Side of Sports - VOA Africa

VOA's Sonny Young brings you the latest sports news and trends as well as questions and comments from sports fans around Africa and the world.

On Tuesday's show:

Uganda’s Cranes and coach Milutin “Micho” Sredojevic are set to kick off their African Nations Championship football tournament, CHAN, campaign where they are positioned in Group B alongside Senegal, Ivory Coast, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sonny focuses on the 18-team CHAN competition which kicks off Friday in Algeria and restricts all nations to have a roster of players who are competing in the local leagues.

On Monday’s show:

VOA correspondent Darren Taylor profiles Gerda Steyn, one of the best long-distance runners in Africa who will look to defend her title at the Two Oceans Marathon to be held in Cape Town, South Africa in April and in a few months will attempt to win The Comrades Marathon for the second time.

We also hear from Prince Nesta who will provides updates on performances by European football clubs over the weekend, and in tennis, Craig Gabriel focuses on the inaugural United Cup trophy in Australia that was won by team USA.

On Friday’s show:

The spotlight is on July’s 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament being held in Australia and New Zealand.

We hear from Zambia’s head coach Bruce Mwape whose team is making its debut at this year’s tournament and are grouped with Spain, Costa Rica, and Japan. Sonny will also provide updated news on the U.S. Women’s national soccer team who are vying for a third consecutive world title.

On Thursday's show:

Mario Leo, the CEO of Result Sports, returns to the program to talk about the social media following of the five African teams that competed at the recent FIFA World Cup football tournament in Qatar.

According to Leo, several African players such as Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi witnessed a massive jump in social media followers, having previously had 7.5 million followers ahead of the global tournament and left with over 13 million followers.

On Wednesday’s show:

African football mogul and founder of South African football club Kaizer Chiefs, Kaizer Motaung pays tribute to the late Brazilian legend Pele who was laid to rest on Tuesday in Santos.

The South African mogul recalls moments where he played against the Brazilian legend in 1968 and described him as a “humble person,” and adds, “you would not believe that he was a top athlete throughout the world.”

Football legend Pele will be buried Tuesday after a procession of his coffin in Santos, Brazil.

Ahead of the private burial, pallbearers carried Pele's casket to the center circle at the Vila Belmiro Stadium in Santos, where he played some of the best matches of his career and where fans and dignitaries have been paying their respects.

On Tuesday's Sonny Side of Sports show, Nigerian football analyst Kunle Solaja describes Pele as a genius and reflects on an interview he did with Pele in 1991.

Also on the program, Moki Edwin Kindzeka reports on an age cheating scandal involving Cameroon's under-17 football team.

You might say the first Sonny Side of Sports show for 2023 packs some punch, a few kicks and even some wrestling moves.

Bokang Masunyane (in red) wrestled for South Africa at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. In 2016, he made his professional mixed martial arts (MMA) debut and is now one of the world's top MMA fighters in the strawweight division.

On Monday's show, Darren Taylor in Johannesburg has a feature profile of Masunyane, whose nickname is "The Little Giant."

Also on the program, Prince Nesta has a comprehensive report on the weekend action in the major European club football leagues.

The late South African President and anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela said this about Pele, the Brazilian football legend who died Thursday at age 82:

"To watch him play was to watch the delight of a child combined with the extraordinary grace of a man in full."

On the final Sonny Side of Sports show of 2022, Sonny pays tribute to the extraordinary impact of Pele on football and sports with reaction from Brazilian fans, analysts and FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Former world number-one tennis player Ash Barty of Australia wrote her memoir this year at age 26. In Barty's words, it "gave her a chance to think carefully through the highs and lows, the work and the play, the smiles and the tears."

There were tears in March when Barty announced her retirement from tennis. She said she started to lose her motivation to keep playing after winning Wimbledon in 2021.

On Thursday's Sonny Side of Sports, VOA's Gwen Outen looks back on Barty's career and her retirement announcement.