Current:Home > Invest‘The world knows us.’ South Sudanese cheer their basketball team’s rise and Olympic qualification -TrueNorth Finance Path
‘The world knows us.’ South Sudanese cheer their basketball team’s rise and Olympic qualification
View
Date:2025-04-23 04:47:44
JUBA, South Sudan (AP) — Basketball has united the South Sudanese.
The country, which gained its independence just 12 years ago, is still celebrating the men’s national team after its first-ever qualification for the Olympics.
South Sudan will play at the Paris Olympics as the automatic qualifier from Africa thanks to a 101-78 win over Angola a week ago at the basketball World Cup in the Philippines.
Thousands of fans, some wrapped in the national flag, blew horns and flooded the streets of the capital this week to welcome the team home.
Chol David, a 22-year-old diehard fan, called it incredible and historic.
“The world knows us,” he said.
The players and staff met Friday with South Sudan President Salva Kiir, who expressed his pride for their accomplishment. The government called the Olympic qualification a “remarkable achievement.”
Earlier in the week outside the Juba International Airport for the team’s arrival, fan Anger Aquin Awan said “they have registered our names in history.”
South Sudan, ranked 62nd in the world, is the lowest-ranked men’s team to qualify for an Olympics since at least 2004, according to the sport’s governing body.
Upon arriving in Juba, team captain Kuany Kuany led a chant: “Where are we going?” he yelled. “Paris!” the fans replied.
South Sudan gained independence from Sudan in 2011 after decades of conflict and sent its first athlete, a marathoner, to the 2012 London Olympics as an independent athlete competing under the Olympic flag. The International Olympic Committee made the country’s Olympic committee a full member in 2015.
Two years after independence, South Sudan fought a civil war that left nearly 400,000 people dead and more than 4 million displaced. The slow recovery from war continues with bursts of politically motivated ethnic violence.
But basketball dreams have brought South Sudanese together, fans said.
“We gathered here to welcome the basketball team as the country, not a tribe,” said 25-year-old Aman Akech, wrapped in the national flag.
With tears of joy, senior presidential adviser Kuol Manyang Juuk declared that the team’s success has reunited the country.
“The youth have re-liberated South Sudan again from tribalism and division,” Manyang said.
Kiir has pledged to build a basketball arena or indoor court in Juba as a gift for the team, the adviser said.
There has been little for the country to celebrate at this scale since independence, aside from the exuberant visit of Pope Francis earlier this year.
Millions of South Sudanese struggle with the deadly effects of climate change while receiving little support in one of the world’s poorest countries. The United Nations this month said it is cutting food rations to focus on the 3.2 million people who need it most because of reduced funding and insecurity, affecting communities “living on the brink of starvation.”
The civil war also ruined infrastructure. South Sudan doesn’t have a single indoor basketball stadium. The men’s team started its basketball journey in neighboring Kenya, playing on a concrete floor.
The team is filled with refugees and the children of refugees who fled decades of bloodshed and currently live abroad.
“We never thought that we would be here,” Kuany, the team captain, told The Associated Press.
The team’s Olympic qualification might not have come if Luol Deng, a former NBA All-Star, hadn’t stepped in and personally funded his native country’s program.
Deng, now the president of South Sudan Basketball Federation, said he and the players acted out of patriotism and have one goal: to put South Sudan on the map and change the way the world sees the country.
“We can erase the negativity and the things that have been said about South Sudan,” Deng said. “We’re using sport to do that, and I’m happy to be a part in doing that.”
Despite being relatively rich in oil reserves, South Sudan’s government still struggles to provide even basic services, let alone support sports.
“Sport without money can’t go anywhere,” said Albino Bol, the country’s youth and sports minister.
Kuany said South Sudan will continue to improve in areas beyond basketball.
“It is just a matter of time.”
___
AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/nba and AP sports: https://apnews.com/sports
veryGood! (3)
Related
- Google unveils a quantum chip. Could it help unlock the universe's deepest secrets?
- Kim Kardashian, Kris Jenner and More Send Love to Scott Disick on His 41st Birthday
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, The Strokes
- WNBA Rookie of the Year odds: Caitlin Clark, Angel Reese heavy favorites early on
- FACT FOCUS: Inspector general’s Jan. 6 report misrepresented as proof of FBI setup
- China has threatened trade with some countries after feuds. They’re calling ‘the firm’ for help
- After a deadly heat wave last summer, metro Phoenix is changing tactics
- TSA sets new record for number of travelers screened in a single day
- Nearly 400 USAID contract employees laid off in wake of Trump's 'stop work' order
- Pato O'Ward frustrated after heartbreaking finish at 2024 Indy 500: So (expletive) close
Ranking
- Paula Abdul settles lawsuit with former 'So You Think You Can Dance' co
- Indianapolis 500 weather updates: Start of 2024 race delayed by thunderstorms
- Richard M. Sherman, Disney, 'Mary Poppins' songwriter, dies at 95
- Popular California beach closed for the holiday after shark bumped surfer off his board
- Biden administration makes final diplomatic push for stability across a turbulent Mideast
- What information is on your credit report? Here's what I found when I read my own.
- South Louisiana authorities search for 2 of 4 men who escaped parish jail
- One chest of gold, five deaths: The search for Forrest Fenn's treasure
Recommendation
Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
Bruce Springsteen and E Street postpone four European concerts amid 'vocal issues'
Reports: Former Kentucky guard D.J. Wagner following John Calipari to Arkansas
Suspect identified in stabbings at a Massachusetts theater and a McDonald’s
Federal Spending Freeze Could Have Widespread Impact on Environment, Emergency Management
‘Furiosa’ sneaks past ‘Garfield’ to claim No. 1 spot over Memorial Day holiday weekend
Wisconsin judge sentences man to nearly 20 years in connection with 2016 firebombing incident
Former ‘General Hospital’ actor Johnny Wactor killed in downtown Los Angeles shooting