U.S. Olympian Howard Bach David Beckham

As we look forward to next month's Beijing Olympics, host China will be bidding to continue its dominance in badminton.  Since the racket sport was introduced at the 1992 Barcelona Games, the Chinese have won 22 Olympic medals in badminton -- eight gold, four silver, and 10 bronze.  The United States, meanwhile, is still aiming for its first Olympic medal in the sport.  During the Sonny Side of Sports show for July 24, 2008, VOA's Teresa Sullivan introduces us to USA medal hopeful Howard Bach, who has been described as America's first big badminton star.

Howard describes himself as an ethnic Chinese, born in Vietnam, with a German-sounding name, holding a U.S. passport.  I know that with the name of a famous German composer, Howard hopes to make sweet music on the badminton court in Beijing.

Also on Thursday's show, we salute Nkululeko Nyoni, who was selected as the Voice of America's Sports Listener of the Day (tm).  Nkululeko lives in Bulawayo, the birthplace of Zimbabwean soccer star Peter Ndlovu, "The Bulawayo Bullet."  Nkululeko says he's glued to his radio during the Sonny Side of Sports every Monday through Friday evening in Bulawayo.

In addition, we'll preview Thursday night's Major League Soccer All-Star Game in Toronto, Canada, where the star attraction is David Beckham of the Los Angeles Galaxy. 

Thanks for clicking on my web page, and if you can't bend it like Beckham and find the back of the net, I hope you'll "keep on the Sonny Side" of life.

Sporty regards,

Sonny