Towering former NBA star aims to scale new heights…as a jockey

ANDERSON, United States, Oct 12 (AFP) — Outsize former NBA centre Manute Bol is planning an audacious new career move as he aims to become the tallest jockey in racing.

He hopes to make his debut on October 18, a spokesman for Hoosier Park racecourse 50km from Indianapolis told local press here, and at 2.3m (7ft 7in) punters will have no problem spotting him.

A member of Sudan’s Dinka tribe, Bol, who made his NBA bow for Washington in 1985, is no stranger to trying his hand at something a little different as he campaigns to raise money for child victims of 20 year civil war back in his home country.

He has appeared in the boxing ring and also played ice hockey for a minor league American team, Indianapolis Ice.

The 40-year-old Khartoum-born Bol, the first foreign player selected in the NBA draft, retired from the NBA after 11 seasons in 1995, starring for the Washington Bullets, Philadelphia 76ers, Golden State Warriors and Miami Heat.

He now lives in Sudan.