Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Meet two Ethiopian greats: Elias Ymer and Buay Tuach

Tennis:  Elias
Born in Stockholm but of Ethiopian descent, Elias is a proven and yet very promising young tennis star. At only 21 he has a career high ATP singles ranking of 118 which he achieved on May 23, 2016. He has a career high ATP doubles ranking of 188, achieved on October 16, 2017. He made his ATP main draw singles debut at the 2013 Swedish Open where he lost in the first round to Grigor Dimitrov.
The right handed 1.83m tall Elias won his first ATP Challenger title at the 2015 Città di Caltanissetta, beating American Bjorn Fratangelo in straight sets. The Ethiopian rare talent qualified to the main draw of  the 2015 Wimbledon Championships after wins against Thomas Fabbiano, Boy Westerhof and Guido Pella. He lost in the first round to 23rd seed Ivo Karlović in four sets.
Elias Ymer successfully qualified for all four Grand Slams in 2015 after coming through qualifying at the 2015 US Open. He lost in the first round to Diego Schwartzman. Turned professional in 2014 and is 135th  as of 2018 January 29th Elias’ highest prize money stands at USD 552 thousand.
Basketball: Buay Tuach
Buay is a forward from Ethiopia currently playing in Germany for a professional team named Phoenix Hagen, a club with a notable basketball tradition. He is 22 years old and 6’5″ (198cm). He began his career in northeast CC. He played college ball in the US for Loyola Marymount in 2015.
Born in Addis Ababa on January 20, 1995, Buay is Ethiopian but grew up in Texas and Nebraska in the United States. The 84kg guard and forward played high school ball in Omaha-Nebraska before going to Northeast and Loyola Marymount colleges.
When asked about the lack of basketball players from his home country and how proud he was to be a professional basketball player, he said: “I am very proud for my parents and my beautiful African genes because it’s who I am and I thank the man above us for blessing me with so much talent and determination.”

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