Her father is a former “100% Fight”, has African roots and is one of the young promises of Argentine basketball.

What can you have in common 100% combat.the popular television program that aired on Telefe between 2006 and 2010, featuring the FIBA Americas U-18 What is happening in Mexico? At first, nothing seems to connect an entertainment TV show with a youth basketball league. But, conspicuously, there is a point of contact that can be found.

Lee Aliyaforward of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata representing the Argentine national team, he is the son of Ghanaian wrestler Jeff Aaliya, better known as Musambe tutu after crossing the cycle path led by Leo Montero. One of those surprising stories that sport leaves behind.

Jeff was born in Accra, the capital of Ghana, and in August 1997 he arrived in Argentina “with the intention of making a short stay and heading to the United States with friends”, according to himself in an interview. . However, motivated by the good treatment he received, he decided to stay and still lives in La Plata today.

Lee was born there, the youngest of his two children, who he was just a child when Jeff brought the character of Musambe Tutu to life and reached great heights of popularity for his clashes with Vicente Viloni and “La Masa”, among others. Likewise, he has memories, especially from last season, when he was 8 years old.

“As a child I wanted to be a fighter, like my father”he declared, admiring, in a note to Tic Sport. But he ended up leaning towards basketball. And she wasn’t wrong. He is 17 years old, 2.04 meters tall. and he appears as one of the great promises of the Argentine team. In addition, he is part of the first team of Gimnasia y Esgrima La Plata of the Argentine Basketball League, the second most important nationally.

He is playing the FIBA ​​Americas Under 18 Championship and is one of the figures on the team led by Néstor García: leads the percentage of field goals and blocks, appears as the second highest scorer and is the third with the most rebounds in the three games played in the competition.

It has had explosive growth. In mid-2021 he was selected by a group of players under 19 to train at CENARD with the coach Daniele Farabello, a leading figure in the LNB in ​​the 1990s. He was 16 and his good performance in Sub-17 Argentina, a league that brings together teams from different provinces, had attracted attention.

Another of those who laid eyes on him was Nestor García, who led him to train with the players of the senior team at the Obras Stadium, in view of the qualifying window for the World Cup in February-March. There he had the opportunity to get in touch with historical members of the Golden Generation such as Carlos Delfino and the chapu Nocioni, although he admits that his favorite Olympic champion player is Walter Herrmann. What about the NBA? “I really like Giannis Antetokounmpo for his tenacity in playing. He is a bull.”

He dreams of playing in the NBA, but it is clear that the road is long. Before arriving in Gimnasia, where his older brother also plays, he traveled through South America, a neighborhood club that formed him. In 2014, as a child, he passed to the wolf La Plata and continued his growth according to the values ​​that his father has always taught him, a true fighter.