Planet Sport

This week we’re delving back into our archives to hear from South Africa’s cricket captain, Faf du Plessis. In an interview recorded last year, the world-class Proteas batsman talks about the challenges of being the national captain and shares his thoughts on the players he rates in the international game. And he tells us why his faith is central to his life.

When she was a young woman Ezinne Okparaebo moved from Nigeria to Norway where she developed a love for athletics. She became Norweigian 100 metres champion when she was 18 and since then she has held the national 100 metres title for 13 out of 14 years. She's competed in the last three Summer Olympics and divides her time now between competing and developing Ezinne Athletics, a programme to encourage young girls from different ethnic backgrounds in Norway to get involved in sport. She talks to us about her career, faith and life as a role model promoting sport to young people.

In April this year 25-year-old Lindon Victor became only the second athlete from Grenada to win a Commonwealth Games title. His gold in the decathlon at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia added to fellow Grenadian Kirani James' 400 metres title in 2014. Lindon tells us how he first got into decathlon and what it means to win the Commonwealth title, and also about the impact on his life and sporting career of his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.

Julius Achon went from being a child soldier in Uganda at the age of 11 to world junior 1500 metres champion when he was 18. After losing many family members brutally murdered by rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army Julius set up a foundation to provide education and health care for people in his community in Northern Uganda. In the third and final part of his story, Julius tells us that whatever bad things happen in life there is always hope and shares his experiences of how God has helped him throughout his life and as he now serves his community as a member of parliament.

As an 11-year-old boy Julius was abducted by rebels in the north of his country and forced to become a child soldier. Last time we heard how he escaped and just seven years later became the world junior 1500 metres champion. This week Julius tells us about his experience at two Olympic Games and how he started a project in northern Uganda to provide health care and education, motivated by his personal experiences and his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.

When he was 11, Julius Achon was taken from his village in Northern Uganda by rebels from the Lord's Resistance Army and forced to become a child soldier. He escaped but saw nine of his friends killed. His love for running developed and despite many setbacks and against all the odds in 1994 Julius became World Junior 1500m champion. He went on to represent Uganda at the 1996 & 2000 Olympics. Today he is an MP in the Ugandan government and runs a foundation providing education and healthcare to his home community. In Part 1 of his incredible story, Julius tells us about being captured by the LRA and how his running career took off.

Ruth Hamblin plays for the Adelaide Lightning in Australia’s Women’s National Basketball League, the WNBL. The 24-year-old was born in British Colombia and last year she helped Canada win the F.I.B.A Women’s AmeriCup in Argentina, which was also a qualifying tournament for next month’s Women’s World Cup in Tenerife. Earlier this year Ruth was part of the Canadian team that finished 4th at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Ruth talks to us about her career so far, the impact that her faith as a follower of Jesus Christ has on her sport and life and about her ambitions to represent Canada at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

This week we look ahead to the European Para-Athletics Championships in Berlin from 20-26 August with two inspirational competitors. British army captain, Luke Sinnott, competes in the T63 category 200 metres and long jump after losing both his legs above the knee following an explosion in Afghanistan. Luke shares his story and talks about his love for sailing and athletics. In June British 17-year-old wheelchair racer Kare Adenegan set a new world record for the T34 100 metres. She tells us how it feels to be a world record holder and how her faith as a follower of Jesus Christ impacts her life on and off the track.

We talk to two medallists from South Africa at the recent African Championships in Asaba, Nigeria. Sprinter Akani Simbine won the men's 100 metres title and 400 metres hurdler Wenda Nel picked up the bronze. Akani and Wenda talk about their contrasting seasons and the faith that is central to both their lives.

Ronnie Baker has dominated this season's Diamond League circuit in the 100 metres, winning three out of four races with a sub-ten second time. We hear from the American on his rapid rise to the top level of world sprinting and find out how he views his success this season.

Jamaica's two-time Olympic 100m champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is returning to the track after taking a year out from the sport following the birth of her son, Zyon, last August. We talk to her at last weekend's Anniversary Games in London, part of the Diamond League circuit, to find out how she juggles motherhood with her athletics career and to find out her aims for the season. And we talk to T61 para-athlete, Regas Woods from the United States, about his career in track and field athletics and his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.

This week we talk to Collins Injera, one of Kenya's star players taking part in this weekend's Rugby World Cup Sevens tournament in San Francisco. Collins tells us how he first got into the sevens and what he loves most about the sport. And with the Tokyo 2020 Olympics just two years away on the 24th of July we look forward to what the Japanese capital can bring to the Games, 56 years after first hosting the event in 1964.

Next week the top competition for Rugby Sevens takes place in San Francisco. The Rugby World Cup Sevens, featuring the world's top 24 men's international teams and 16 top women's teams, runs from 20-22 July. New Zealand are the defending champions in both the men's and women's events. Last month, South Africa's men's team, the Blitzbokkes, made the best possible preparations by winning the HSBC World Rugby Sevens series after a gruelling 10-event series from December to June. This week we talk to two of the Blitzbokke team, Branco du Preez and Seabelo Senatla, to find out about their careers and their love for this fast-growing sport.

Keenan Horne represented South Africa at hockey in the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia earlier in April. Last year he helped South Africa win the Africa Cup of Nations for hockey in Egypt. He talks to us about his love for the sport, his faith and his hopes to compete at the Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020. And we find out how preparations for the 2020 Games are coming along as we talk to Tokyo 2020 Spokesperson Masa Takaya.

Willy Ambaka has been a mainstay of the Kenya Rugby Sevens side since 2011. During his career he has also played 15s rugby in France and South Africa. At the recent HSBC World Rugby Sevens series event in London he spoke to Planet Sport's Norman Brierley about his career in rugby and the impact on his life of his faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.

South African Charl du Toit is a reigning double World and Paralympic sprint champion. Competing in the T37 class for athletes with cerebral palsy he won gold at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio in the 100m and 400m and a year later he added the 200m and 400m titles at the IPC World Athletics Championships in London. In April he set a new world record for the T37 100m of 11.35 seconds at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Planet Sport's Tom Ellis caught up with Charl at the Commonwealth Games to find out more about this exceptional athlete and his life, career and faith.

Chioma Ubogagu is a striker at Women's Soccer League side Orlando Pride in the USA. The 25-year-old has also played for Arsenal Ladies in the UK and Houston Dash in the WSL. In 2012 she was part of the United States team that won the Women's Fifa Under-20 World Cup. Chioma talks to us about her career, how she sees the state of women's football worldwide and the importance of her faith as a follower of Jesus Christ.

The HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series rolled into London weekend on the ninth leg of the ten-tournament tour. Planet Sport's Norman Brierley caught up with Gareth Baber, the coach of reigning Olympic champions and current World Series leaders Fiji and Philip Snyman, captain of the South African Blitzboks to find out more about their lives in rugby and on the World Series circuit.

Dyan Buis is the reigning Paralympic T38 400 metres champion. Charl du Toit is a sprinter in the T37 category. In 2016 he won Paralympic gold in the 100m & 400m in Rio. Last month both athletes added to their medal tallies at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Both competing in the T38 100m Dyan won silver and Charl bronze, in a new T37 athlete world record time of 11.35 seconds. Planet Sport's Tom Ellis spoke to Dyan Buis about his life and faith on the day before his 100m race in Gold Coast, and then spoke to both athletes the day after their race to find out what winning their Commonwealth medals meant to them.

Nicole Seekamp and Cayla George are Commonwealth champions. As members of Australia's women's basketball team they helped The Opals win gold at last month's Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia. Planet Sport's Liam Flint caught up with them at the Games shortly before their semi-final win over New Zealand to find out about their twin passions for basketball and their faith as followers of Jesus Christ.