Somali Diaspora Scores Big in WNBA Draft
Los Angeles (SDN)-Swedish Somali athlete Farhiya Abdi has been drafted by the Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) to join the Los Angeles Sparks in the upcoming season. Farhiya currently plays basketball in the Czech Republic.
The up and coming star is 6’2 and is this year’s first pick in the second round. She is also the first Somali woman to join the renowned American WNBA league.
The 20 year old Farhiya played professionally for the Czech Republic team Frisco Brno where she scored an average of 29 points and 17 rebounds per game.
Farhiya is the youngest of seven children, her mother Saida and her father Ali came to Sweden in the 1980s as refugees.
She was named player of the year in 2010 in Sweden before being recruited to play in the Czech Republic for Frisco Brno.
Farhiya is joining one of the league’s most dynamic teams and will have to fight for a starting position against veterans Candace Parker, Nicky Anoskie, DeLisha Milton Jones, and newcomers Khadija Rushdan, Tyra White and this year’s first round draft pick Nneka Ogwumike. She is the youngest member of the team and the only one drafted from the European league, the rest of L.A.’s picks are from the U.S. college system.
SDN