Browsing: inspires

Former UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones posted a moving tribute to his late brother, former NFL defensive tackle Arthur Jones.

“Arthur was not just a Super Bowl champion but a father, spouse, son, brother, everyone’s best friend, a gentle giant whose kindness and generosity knew no bounds,” Jon wrote in his caption of a remembrance video on Instagram.

Arthur Jones died at the age of 39 on Oct. 3. He played seven seasons in the NFL and was a part of the Baltimore Ravens’ Super Bowl win during the 2012 campaign.

Jon wrote about Arthur’s “love for the outdoors,” his involvement in charities and how he gave back to his community. The 38-year-old said his brother “brought pure joy, warmth and laughter to every moment spent around him.”

“His legacy inspires me every day. Our dad Arthur Jones Jr, me, Chandler, Arthur Jones IV, and the rest of the family are committed to moving forward striving to be the best versions of ourselves, just as he would have wanted,” Jon wrote.

Their younger brother, Chandler Jones, also played 11 seasons in the NFL and won the Super Bowl with the New England Patriots in 2014. The brothers were frequently seen supporting Jon throughout his UFC career, and they were in attendance for his last fight at UFC 309 last November.

“King Arthur will truly be missed, he’s gone way too soon, but his spirit will live on in our hearts forever,” Jon wrote at the end of his caption. “Rest easy, big bro, you deserve it, you did amazing.”

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October 14, 2025 | Paul Stimpson

Tianer Yu came of age with a brilliant double as England women dispatched Italy to move into the knockout phase of the European Championships in Croatia.

Yu, 17 years old and ranked just inside the worldâ€s top 300, beat two top-100 players as England did what their male counterparts could not and qualified from the group stage.

Sinking the ninth-ranked team, having themselves come through the qualifying tournament to get to this stage, this was a huge step forward for this England squad.

Yu turned the tie around after Tin-Tin Ho had missed match points in losing to Georgia Piccolin in the first match.

Ho (WR 247) made the gap to Piccolin (WR 84) look non-existent for most of a match which the England player will be kicking herself to have lost.

After Ho took the first 11-8, the next four games were all decided 12-10 – Ho twice led and was twice pegged back, before a heartbreaking final game.

Ho led 5-1 at the change of ends and built it up to 8-2, the last two of those points brilliant forehand counter-attacks which left Piccolin looking beaten.

Both had already used their timeouts, so had to plough on, and the Italian dug deep and clawed back to 8-8 – Ho recovered her composure and brought up two match points.

However, Piccolin was not finished and stunned Ho with four points on the spin to put Italy in front.

With Gaia Monfardini (WR 98) having won two in the 3-2 defeat by Croatia, England were facing a big task. But Yu (WR 290) rose to the occasion magnificently, winning in three straight to level the tie.

Jasmin Wong (WR 806) was up against Nicole Arlia (WR 288), and the Italian always had the edge in three.

Ho then played on Monfardiniâ€s insecurities from her first match – the Italian seemed to spend most of the match shaking her head and throwing up her arms in exasperation – as well as making up for her own opening defeat. It was a controlled performance with the only wobble at 10-6 in the third, when Monfardini saved the first three match points.

So to Yu versus Piccolin – youth versus experience, world No 290 v No 84. But anyone coming into the hall from another planet would have had trouble working out which was which.

Yu won the first 11-7, stormed through the second 11-4 (she led 10-2) and led the third 8-4. Maybe nerves started creeping in as she took the timeout at 8-6 and then saw Piccolin level. Yu won the next point, but three in a row for Piccolin saw Italy back in the match.

Carlo Agnelloâ€s words on the bench would have been important, but Yu already has an impressive mindset and she made sure she there would be no repeat of game three as she opened up an identical 8-4 lead and this time powered on to seal it 11-4, before running to the bench wreathed in smiles.

So despite not having to qualify for next yearâ€s Worlds, hosts England did it anyway – their last-16 tie, which is yet to be drawn, will be on Thursday.

Results

Women’s Group G
England 3 Italy 2
Georgia Piccolin bt Tin-Tin Ho 3-2 (8-11, 12-10, 10-12, 12-10, 12-10)
Tianer Yu bt Gaia Monfardini 3-0 (11-9, 11-7, 11-9)
Nicole Arlia bt Jasmin Wong 3-0 (11-5, 11-7, 11-7)
Ho bt Monfardini 3-0 (11-9, 11-9, 11-9)
Yu bt Piccolin 3-1 (11-7, 11-4, 9-11, 11-4)

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Ali Orr’s second century of the tournament guided Hampshire into the One-Day Cup semi-finals as they saw off Middlesex in…

Bukayo Saka has once again shown why he is one of English footballâ€s most admired figures, taking time out to donate over a thousand school uniforms to families struggling with the cost of living crisis.

Hailing from Ealing, Saka gifted the uniforms to four local schools, including Greenford High, where he studied as a youngster.

The Arsenal and England winger visited the school personally to surprise pupils, posing for photos, signing autographs, and helping distribute the uniforms to those in need.

Sharing images of the day on Instagram, Saka wrote: “Special day going back home to launch our school uniform project. Thank you to all the schools, our partners and everybody else who helped us give to the students.”

In 2022, Saka was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Ealing in recognition of his sporting achievements and his positive influence on young people, following his standout performances at UEFA Euro 2020.

Meanwhile, Outside Greenford High stands a striking mural of Saka, painted in 2021 at the suggestion of a student, celebrating his rise from local schoolboy to football star.

Itâ€s clear that the community of Ealing loves Saka – and he loves it right back – using his platform to inspire both on and off the pitch.

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In the lead-up to World Refugee Day on 20 June, members of the Refugee Olympic Team will be sharing their stories in a series of features as they prepare for the Games in Tokyo. The series begins with 1500m runner Anjelina Nadai Lohalith.

Last Tuesday’s confirmation that Anjelina Nadai Lohalith had been picked for the Refugee Olympic Team for a second successive Games was cause for celebration – and the 28-year-old 1500m runner duly marked the occasion at her Ngong training camp in Kenya, with much “music and dancing”.

But any day now an even more significant moment awaits as she prepares to reunite with the family she left behind when, aged nine, she escaped from her war-ravaged village in South Sudan and made her way to the vast Kakuma Refugee Camp in northern Kenya – where her father and mother have recently arrived themselves.

It will be the first time she has seen her parents since the day she and her aunt boarded a United Nations truck that had been bringing food into an area traumatically affected by a civil war that eventually ended in 2005, three years after she had reached her new home.

Recalling in a Zoom call from her training centre how the war had come to her village, Lohalith said: “Soldiers came in the night. I didn’t understand what was happening, I just heard the shooting.

“We ran to the next village and we slept in the bush at nights. We wanted to go back to our village to get food and all the things we had left behind. It was really an emergency, and we had almost nothing with us.

“But we were told we could not go back because the soldiers were occupying our village and around the village there were what they called ‘weapons underground’, which were landmines. It was not safe.

“The UN bus came with food, and that was how I was able to get out with my aunt. I thought my family would be coming after me. But they didn’t come.”

Lohalith’s “dearest wish”

Lohalith has maintained since making the Refugee Olympic Team for the Rio 2016 Games as one of five track athletes that her “dream” was to one day help her parents.

Asked how she felt about the prospect of meeting them after so long, she paused for a few moments before saying: “It is my dearest wish.”

She added: “It makes me so happy that my parents are now in the camp. Soon we will have a welcome party!”

Already, however, her mother and father have met their grandson for the first time – Lohalith’s four-year-old son Jayden Luis Monutore.

Her parents were preceded to Kakuma by other relatives, including another of her aunts and a cousin, and they have helped to look after Jayden – already a natural runner according to his proud mum – while she has been training to make the Rio 2016 team.

“My parents don’t know about my running,” she said. “They only know about my schooling. I think it will be hard for them to understand about the Olympics. They don’t know anything about it.”

Anjelina Nadai Lohalith trains at the Refugee Athletes Centre in Ngong (© AFP / Getty Images)

Lohalith has spoken in the past of how Tegla Loroupe, Kenya’s former world marathon record-holder and three-time world half marathon winner, came to the Kakuma Camp as part of the work of her Peace Foundation and organised trial races in 2015 to identify those who might be able to run at the Olympics.

At that time Lohalith knew nothing of international athletics but she had been, like her son, a natural runner for as long as she could remember.

“Wherever I went I would run,” she recalled. “When I went to fetch something for my mother I always ran, because I didn’t want to be beaten by her!

“I just loved running for no reason, but I did not know anything about racing until Tegla came to the camp. I didn’t know who she was – I only found out about her medals and her world record later.”

In Rio, Lohalith ran 4:47.38 in her opening 1500m heat. Two years later she reduced that time to 4:33.54 at the World Athletics Championships in London.

She wanted to continue her international career by appearing at the Doha 2019 World Championships. “I wanted to go to Doha but it was soon after maternity leave and I just didn’t make it,” she said. “It was not my time to go. But now I AM going back to the Olympics!

“I was not sure I would be in the team. I was nervous. I am so happy to be going to Tokyo.”

Another chance

Part of the reason for her uncertainty was the difficulties the pandemic had thrown up to her training regime, which faltered as the Olympics were postponed by a year.

“We were training very hard for the Olympics. In 2020 we were in very good shape, very confident. I felt I was in shape to reach the semifinals,” she said.

“Then it was very difficult, we had to go back to the camp and try to train there, but you could not train in big groups. And it was very hot – we used to train at five in the morning, but we missed the facilities of the training camp.

“Tegla was very encouraging, she gave us schedules while we were back in the camp. She said: ‘It will be difficult, but you have to try and stay with it. It will be hard, but you can do it.’”

In Lohalith’s case, Loroupe was right.

“I can say I feels so great,” the soon-to-be double Olympian said. “I am really honoured but it was not something I ever expected. I feel so happy to be given another chance, and I just want to improve on my best time.

“People all over the world wish to get this chance, but that is something that not all of us can do. It’s very hard. That is why they were using some kind of criteria to select athletes.

“Before Rio in the camp we were told that maybe one person can be lucky to go. But from my team all six of us were lucky to be selected. Now the number is halved. There is a higher competition now and that is why they did so many trials.”

Anjelina Nadai Lohalith in action at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (© AFP / Getty Images)

Since arriving in Kenya, Lohalith has learned fluent English. Asked how she had managed to attain this language, she responded: “I just read. I like reading novels – love novels, inspiring books. One of my favourite authors is Nelson Mandela.”

Speaking recently, Rwanda’s International Olympic Committee member Felicite Rwemarika described how she had been forced to flee her home when members of the Tutsi tribe were being massacred in 1959, and added that, during her subsequent travel in Uganda and Burundi, her family had been treated with suspicion and denied access to vital services, having to change their name at one point.

How had Lohalith’s experience of being a refugee in a foreign land compared?

“I have not been through that kind of an issue,” she said. “Not that much. We are in camp most of the time. We and Kenyans, most of the time we are the same with our facial appearance.

“It only happens sometimes if you meet with some few people, but only with a few.

“You cannot expect them to be 100 per cent about refugees in another country. Not everybody can see what you are going through. They can’t understand it. Some will be negative. When you introduce yourself as a refugee, they get a look on their face. We just have to understand, we don’t have any choice.

“We hope others see we are just normal people like them.”

The power of sport

As well as visiting Rio and London to compete, Lohalith has also been to Uganda and to Canada, where she attended the One Young World Summit in Ottawa, a global forum for youth leaders to discuss global issues.

“I enjoy travelling a lot,” she said. “It is part of my passion – travelling to see the world. When I was young, I always told myself that one day you will be travelling the world in an airplane. But I never had an idea on what I was going to do or how it could happen.

“But now my dream has happened. It is sport that has helped me to travel.

“Through running I was able to know more people, people who have been able to compete in international races. I feel so great when I make so many friends from other countries.

“When I compete, I can meet people and make friends and we stay in contact. I am always happy and honoured for it, to be building that kind of a relationship with people.

“People do not just go to compete, they make friends in different countries. It is something very great for me. That is a big reason why sport is so important – it can also bring people together.”

For now, however, Lohalith is turning her eyes once more to the Olympic arena.

Asked when she would leave for Japan, she laughed suddenly and exclaimed: “I don’t care when I go! I am going!”

Mike Rowbottom for World Athletics

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