Body-positive message lifts a young US rugby player to the Youth Olympics

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Before 15-year-old Eseta Moala found rugby, getting dressed for sports could make her feel she did not belong.

As one of the “bigger children,” Moala says she felt uncomfortable in fitted outfits for ballet and karate.

Until, at 11, she discovered girls and boys her size or bigger in the world of rugby.

“I was able to fit in and finally use my body to my advantage,” Moala says.

That sense of belonging carried her to the ongoing Youth Olympic Games for under-18 athletes in Senegal, where Eseta represented the United States with her 16-year-old sister Luisa. A co-captain of the women’s rugby sevens team, Luisa also carried the American flag at the opening ceremony.

For Eseta, the journey has been encouraged by another U.S. rugby player: Ilona Maher, who helped the U.S. win bronze at the 2024 Paris Olympics and brought new attention to the sport at home.

Maher is the world’s most followed rugby player on social media with nearly nine million followers thanks in large part to her promotion of body positivity and women's sports. Typical of her messages was this post on Instagram before the Paris Games: “All body types are worthy from the smallest gymnast to the tallest volleyball player, from a rugby player to a shot-putter and a sprinter." Maher encourages young girls to “see themselves” in the athletes.

Eseta says Maher's success on the field and embrace of her muscular build has helped her appreciate her own body.

“She uses her body as a source of confidence, I felt like I could do the same thing,” Eseta says. “I got to see other girls do it, too, that are my size or even bigger than me.”

Born and raised in Utah, the Moala sisters, were part of a U.S. team that finished sixth in Dakar, where Africa is hosting an Olympic event for the first time.

Despite losing its first two games against Madagascar and the Czech Republic by close margins, the team finished on a high with two wins in three games on Tuesday, the last day of the competition. Eseta and Luisa both scored tries during the tournament.

For the sisters, representing the United States also meant carrying their family's heritage onto an international stage.

Luisa and Eseta's mother is from Tonga, a South Pacific island nation, where rugby is a national sport.

“In our (Tongan) culture," Luisa says, “everyone’s family and no one’s above the other.”

Being a flag bearer gave her the chance to meet athletes from other countries, to laugh as they tried to communicate when they did not share the same language. But Luisa also missed Eseta during that brief moment and told Gardner it was the longest the sisters had ever been apart.

“They’re fantastic at playing off of each other and being able to read each other’s movements,” Gardner says.

The coach says she has seen more girls in the U.S. expressing an interest to play rugby since the Paris Olympics, and credits coaches and communities with creating opportunities.

World Rugby has also been making a concerted push to improve rugby's visibility in the U.S. after awarding the country the men’s Rugby World Cup in 2031 and the women’s tournament in 2033.

Challenges remain for young players, particularly the limited time the U.S. national youth program can offer as there's only one camp and one or two competitions a year, Gardner says.

For Eseta, rugby has already changed the way she thinks about a body that once made her feel out of place. The sport has introduced her to others her age who look like her, and she adds Maher offers an example of someone who relishes that strength in public.

That connection even became personal.

During a jersey presentation ceremony at the U.S. Embassy in Dakar, the Youth Olympic players received personalized video messages from players from the senior U.S. rugby teams.

Maher recorded one of those individual videos.

It was for Eseta.

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FILE -Ilona Maher arrives at the ESPY Awards at Lincoln Center on July 15, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura, File)

USA's Luisa Moala, right, with her teammates Abigail McGettigan, centre, and Avery Russer celebrate following the women's rugby sevens match between USA and Spain at the Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

USA's Luisa Moala celebrates after the women's rugby sevens match between USA and Senegal at the Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

USA's Eseta Moala (9) challenged by Senegal's players during the women's rugby sevens match between USA and Senegal at the Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

USA's Luisa Moala, left, celebrates with her sister Eseta Moala following the women's rugby sevens match between USA and Spain at the Youth Olympics in Dakar, Senegal, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Sylvain Cherkaoui)

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's attorney general suspends house arrest for jailed former Prime Minister Najib to seek legal clarification.

THIS IS AN APNewsAlert. Check back for updates. AP's earlier story is below.

Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak left prison Friday to serve the remainder of his graft sentence at home, local media reported, after his political party paid a 50 million ringgit ($12.3 million) fine required under the terms of a royal pardon.

Najib, 73, has been imprisoned since August 2022, when Malaysia’s top court upheld his conviction in his first graft trial linked to the multibillion-dollar looting of state investment fund 1MDB. Malaysia’s king in September granted Najib a rare clemency, allowing him to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest. After paying the fine, he could be free in August 2028.

The house arrest applies only to his reduced six-year sentence in the first trial. It doesn’t cover a separate 15-year prison sentence imposed in December 2025 for corruption and money laundering in a second major trial tied to the 1MDB scandal. He's appealing that sentence.

Local broadcaster TV3 and other media outlets reported that Najib left the prison accompanied by a security convoy after his lawyer delivered the house arrest order. Police were stationed at his house in Kuala Lumpur since early Friday and the road leading to it was blocked.

Asyraf Wajid Dusuki, secretary-general of the United Malays National Organization, said in a statement that the party had collected sufficient funds through its donation drive for Najib. He said the party had completed payment of the fine at the High Court earlier Friday.

The payment fulfills a key condition attached to the royal pardon.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said that he disagreed with UMNO’s decision to settle Najib's fine as the move risks sending a wrong message regarding large-scale corruption offenses. But he acknowledged it was the party's right.

“That should not give the public the impression that acts of corruption involving billions of ringgit can simply be overlooked," he was quoted by Bernama as saying.

Najib set up the 1MDB development fund shortly after he took office in 2009. Investigators say at least $4.5 billion was stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates through layers of bank accounts in the U.S. and other countries. The funds were allegedly used to finance Hollywood films and extravagant purchases that included hotels, a luxury yacht, art and jewelry.

He was originally sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined 210 million ringgit ($51.5 million) in 2020 for abuse of power, criminal breach of trust and money laundering involving 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) channeled into his bank accounts from SRC International, a former unit of 1MDB.

In January 2024, the Pardons Board halved his sentence to six years and reduced his fine to 50 million ringgit.

King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar subsequently granted Najib a conditional pardon, paving the way for house arrest until Aug. 23, 2028, provided he paid the fine. If Najib fails to win the appeal in the second trial, he could go back to prison, after the current sentence ends.

Public outrage over the 1MDB scandal led to the historic 2018 election defeat of the ruling coalition, which had governed Malaysia since independence from Britain in 1957. Despite his conviction, Najib still wields influence in his party, UNMO, which is now part of a new government that took power in 2022.

Police guard a road leading to the residence of Malaysia’s former Prime Minister Najib Razak where he is expected to serve his remaining prison time in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Friday, Nov 6, 2026. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)