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For South Sudan men\u2019s basketball team, the road to the FIBA World Cup started on a concrete court.<\/p>\n
Representing the world\u2019s newest nation, the team practised outdoors with flood water lapping at their feet and eagles circling overhead. But on Saturday night in Manila, the team \u2013 which has five players on its roster who grew up in Australia \u2013 completed a fairytale rise by booking a place at next year\u2019s Olympic Games in Paris.<\/p>\n
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South Sudan centre Deng Acuoth scores against Angola at the FIBA World Cup and celebrates his country\u2019s progression to the Olympics.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n It will be the first team from any sport to represent South Sudan at the Olympics, and will again find itself up against the highly paid powerhouse nations of world basketball, including, potentially, the USA.<\/p>\n South Sudan, an independent country since 2011, has a young population, widespread poverty and a history of civil unrest and conflict. It does not have one indoor basketball stadium, so the thought of it forming a team strong enough to play against the best in the world seemed implausible.<\/p>\n But Saturday\u2019s 101-78 win over Angola at the World Cup game guaranteed South Sudan its spot at Paris 2024 as the highest-placed African team.<\/p>\n The chant of \u201cWhere we going? Paris\u201d echoed through the team\u2019s locker room post-match as captain Kuany Kuany \u2013 who was born in South Sudan but grew up in Melbourne \u2013 beamed about the prospect of leading the fledgling nation to the Olympics.<\/p>\n The win against Angola mean South Sudan will play at the Olympics in Paris next year.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>AP<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cThree years ago when Luol Deng became the president of the South Sudan Basketball Federation, when we started [qualifying] playing, literally, on a concrete floor in Nairobi [Kenya] in zone five, I never thought we would be here,\u201d Kuany said.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is definitely one of the best days ever and one of the best days for South Sudan.\u201d<\/p>\n South Sudan\u2019s coach Royal Ivey \u2013 a former NBA player whom Deng recruited to lead the team \u2013 said many of his players still had to cope with the difficulties of playing and training outdoors.<\/p>\n \u201cA year ago we were practising outside with eagles flying around above us, and the court was flooded,\u201d Ivey said.<\/p>\n South Sudan captain Kuany Kuany playing against China at the FIBA World Cup.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cTo go from that to playing in front of these fans in the Philippines \u2013 man, I\u2019m on cloud-nine right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Retired NBA All-Star, now South Sudan Basketball Federation president, Luol Deng was the mastermind of an astute recruiting drive that helped South Sudan realise its dream of qualifying for the Olympics.<\/p>\n Deng was a regular visitor to Australia during his career, often meeting with South Sudanese expatriate communities and hosting clinics for young people.<\/p>\n After his NBA career finished, Deng dedicated himself to forming the best possible South Sudanese team he could. With the World Cup and Olympics in mind, he scoured the world for players with South Sudanese roots, and Australia became one of his prime recruiting grounds.<\/p>\n Sunday Dech, Majok Deng, Junior Madut, Deng Acouth and Kuany Kuany were the Australians on the team\u2019s World Cup roster, while Mangok Mathiang played in the lead-up games.<\/p>\n Bul Kuol and Jo Lual-Acuil jnr had to withdraw due to injury. All of them have played or still play in Australia\u2019s NBL.<\/p>\n Those players regularly flew from their NBL teams in the past two years to play in African qualifying games. South Sudan\u2019s lack of a stadium meant it had to play all those games as away fixtures, but it built an imposing record of 11 wins and one loss to earn its World Cup berth.<\/p>\n South Sudan\u2019s links to Australia extend beyond the handful of players who have represented the country on the court. When the team played in a series of warm-up matches for the World Cup at Melbourne\u2019s Rod Laver Arena last month, thousands of the nation\u2019s expat community were in the stands.<\/p>\n Australian Boomers coach Brian Goorjian spoke about the team after his team had beaten them in one of those games.<\/p>\n \u201cCan I finish with something on South Sudan?\u201d Goorjian asked.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve been in this a long time and Angola always comes out of the Africa region [to qualify].<\/p>\n \u201cSo for them to do what they have done is incredible, and for our team, Australia, a lot of those guys needed to be cleared by Basketball Australia to play for South Sudan, and what every one of them said was moving. They want to play for their country, and you can see how they have played for their country.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel good as an Australian that we have been a big part of their development and the NBL has too.<\/p>\n \u201cSeeing Sunday, seeing Mangok out there and seeing a lot of those guys who have been around us and this NBL competition. To see the job they are doing for their country, I\u2019m pumped for them. I\u2019m really proud of them.\u201d<\/p>\n Earlier in the World Cup, Kuany said South Sudan\u2019s basketball team was playing for more than just on-court achievements.<\/p>\n On Saturday, teammate Majok Deng shared a picture of thousands of supporters watching the team at a live site in South Sudan.<\/p>\n South Sudan fans cheer on their nation at the FIBA World Cup.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cFor us as a country, the reason why this is so important and means a lot is because we have so much division [at home],\u201d Kuany told a World Cup press conference.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of trouble and conflict is going on in our country, but whenever the basketball team plays is the one time everyone comes together.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are no tribes, not \u2018I\u2019m from so-and-so region\u2019. Everyone is wearing the same flag.<\/p>\n \u201cYou look at our fans out there, and you can\u2019t really identify that this person is from so-and-so region. We are literally one.<\/p>\n Australian-raised Majok Deng dunks for South Sudan at the FIBA World Cup.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n \u201cThat is what this team stands for. It stands for unity and a pathway for peace and development in the country. A way to change the narrative.\u201d<\/p>\n Dech and the other Australians had to work with their families to prove their heritage and apply for passports.<\/p>\n In Dech\u2019s case, he had to petition FIBA to allow him to make a rare switch in allegiances after playing for the Boomers in 2020.<\/p>\n \u201cWith South Sudan being the newest country in the world, they have to backtrack,\u201d Dech, who grew up in Perth, told this masthead earlier this year.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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