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Sydney defender Aliir Aliir beams with pride at the mention of Thon Maker.Not just because he and the Australian NBA draft pick are both Sudanese - but also because they share the same blood.Maker is Aliirs cousin, the son of his mothers sister. Its their common genes, a shared sporting prowess and strength amid adversity that have steered the child refugees to the heights of the AFL and NBA.Aliir was born in Kenyas Kakuma refugee camp, moving to Australia with his family when he was eight.Maker spent the first five years of his life in what is now South Sudan before fleeing with some relatives and joining Aliir in Newcastle, then moving to Perth while Aliirs family settled in Brisbane.Most of what the pair knew then was soccer - a 14-year-old Maker was aptly discovered kicking soccer balls in Perth before developing his basketball game in Sydney, the US and Canada.Last week the 216cm talent was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the 10th pick of the NBA draft, leaving Aliir ecstatic. Ive known him pretty much all my life, Aliir told AAP.When he came down to Sydney recently I caught up with him.Just to see him get drafted shows his commitment and dedication.Hes gone over to the states at a young age and left his family behind - hes got no one over there.And hes worked hard to become an NBA player.He achieved that last week so Im so rapt for him.Like Maker, Aliir was basketball-crazy as an early teenager before some mates introduced him to AFL.An Oklahoma City Thunder fan, hes a Kevin Durant man to the core.But since Thon got drafted I might have to go for the Milwaukee Bucks, he admitted.Even now as a Swans star the 21-year-old still shoots hoops occasionally, just as he did this week in Sydney at a charity basketball clinic for disadvantaged children.The focus now is showing kids how far drive can get you, even when you have nothing else.Ever since I got drafted Ive had little kids who look up to me, Aliir said.I sort of had to embrace that challenge of being a role model and try to help as many kids as I can.Theres a lot of Sudanese kids who are talented, but their mind is probably not in the right place.Theres issues stopping them from going to the next level.I suppose my job is to come to the community and just have a chat to them, give them a word of advice and tell them my pathway and how I got to where I am.Hopefully that can inspire them. Ecco Schuhe Schweiz . Its an influence in football and a big part of the game. Ecco Schuhe Fabrikverkauf . Murray beat Sam Querrey 7-6 (5), 6-7 (3), 6-1, 6-3 to clinch Britains opening-round victory against the United States on Sunday at Petco Park. "Im proud of the way Im playing just now, because I had to do a lot of work to get back to where I want to be," Murray said after celebrating with his teammates on the red clay court in a temporary stadium in left field of the downtown home of baseballs San Diego Padres. http://www.schweizeccoschuhe.ch/ . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. Ecco Schuhe Günstig .J. Ellis hit two-run homers and the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the San Diego Padres 4-0 Saturday night. Ecco Schuhe Sale . Ashley Youngs cross was inadvertently headed by Chester into his own net in the 66th minute, allowing United to claim a third straight league win. "We had to dig deep with our fighting spirit and weve done that," United striker Wayne Rooney said. Guyana Amazon Warriors 143 for 4 (Smith 50, Maddinson 50, Reifer 2-22) beat Barbados Tridents 142 for 7 (Malik 55*, Wiese 40, Emrit 2-24) by six wicketsScorecard and ball-by-ball detailsA modest but boisterous crowd with a heavy contingent of Guyanese supporters cheered Guyana Amazon Warriors to a six-wicket victory over Barbados Tridents in the first CPL match in America on Thursday night at the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill. With 5,000 chairback seats available at the CBRP, less than half were filled by the time the first ball was bowled by Dwayne Smith just after 7 pm, and an estimated 4,000 had made it through the gates by the time the match was ended, more than three hours later, by a single off the bat of Sohail Tanvir.In between, the crowd was thrilled by some big hitting from Smith, who made a mockery of Tridents total of 142 for 7 by bashing his way to a fifty off 30 balls. Whereas the Tridents struggled to clear the deceptively large square boundaries, Smith succeeded in going big straight down the ground for three massive sixes over long on, including one over the perimeter fence and out of the ground.Smith teamed up with Nic Maddinson for a 92-run opening stand in just 10.2 overs, with the Australian also notching 50 in just his second game of the season for Amazon Warriors after replacing Martin Guptill. With the bulk of the chase taken care of by the two openers, Amazon Warriors cantered towards the target after both men departed. The required run rate briefly threatened to go above a run a ball before Christopher Barnwell clattered a four and six off legspinner Imran Khan in the 16th to erase any prospect of a Tridents fightback.ddddddddddddridents had got off to a fairly rapid start, reaching 30 for 1 in three overs after being sent in, to dispel any fears about a poor pitch. Good bounce and carry was on offer for the pacers with a bit of turn for the spinners. Tridents also had reasonable success sending in David Wiese as a pinch-hitter at No. 3, with the South African making 40 off 31 balls before he drove a low full toss from Barnwell to Chris Lynn at long-off, making it 97 for 3 after 13.But Tridents failed to capitalize on that platform with Nicholas Pooran and captain Kieron Pollard falling cheaply, for 3 and a second-ball duck respectively, both caught on the midwicket boundary in the space of six balls. From there, Shoaib Malik struggled to provide the late acceleration required, managing to reach his half-century off 44 balls by hitting the final ball of the innings for six to end on 55 not out. It wound up not being nearly enough for Tridents, who now must win their re-match against Amazon Warriors on Saturday to have any hope of reaching the playoffs.In the end, the partisan crowd in Florida had little to complain about. A much larger crowd than Thursdays estimated 4,000 is expected on Friday, and a sell-out of 10,000 is expected for both Saturday and Sunday. ' ' '