South Sudan basketball national team is back

By Steve Paterno

Finally, the South Sudan Basketball Federation (SSBF) has formed a legally constituted body by electing Luol Deng as the president, Arou Ramadan Chan as the Secretary-General and Woal Paul Puk as the Finance Secretary. SSBF is an independent body, solely responsible for managing basket affairs in South Sudan. SSBF has recently been rocked with controversy among its executive body as to how the organization could be run. However, these fresh democratic elections—endorsed by FIBA—the world’s governing body of basketball, signal a pathway forward and much hope for the future success of basketball in the country.

South Sudan men’s national team, popularly known as the ‘Bright Stars,’ which is managed by SSBF has shown great stride over the last four years. The team appeared from nowhere into dominating the world stage. In its debut in 2021, at the Afrobasketball tournament, the Bright Stars reached round 16. Since then, the team played well, undefeated, into qualifying for the 2023 FIBA World Cup. Subsequently, it became the best African team in the 2023 FIBA World Cup tournament. The Bright Stars are earnestly set to play in the 2024 Olympics, scheduled for July this year.

Generally speaking, the successful ascension of the Bright Stars is in large part attributed to South Sudanese youth’s passion for the game, their hard work, resourceful talents, and the culture of resilience among the people of South Sudan to withstand adversities. In addition, the efforts and resourcefulness of Luol Deng who took the helm of managing SSBF, since 2020, has much to do with the success of the Bright Stars. It is publicly known that Luol Deng was solely funding the team from his pocket at the start. As the SSBF became embroiled in infighting among the governing body, late last year, it took another brave effort by the young and energetic South Sudan Minister of Youth and Sports, the Honorable Dr. Joseph Geng Akech to resolve the dispute.

Now that the dispute is resolved, the South Sudan national men’s basketball team is back on track. Surely, the team will go on to participate in the Olympics in Paris, France. This is an aspiration for the South Sudanese people because this team has embedded unity and patriotism in South Sudanese and pride for its neighbours. Expressively joyous, Luol Deng said, now he can “brag about South Sudan,” because there is so much negativity out there thrown against the country. His promise is to build local basketball through “commitment, competitiveness, and creativity” to show the world that South Sudan has more to offer. The energetic young Minister of Youth and Sports, the Honorable Dr. Akech promises that on his part, he is willing to invest in sports as the majority of the population in the country are youth so they benefit through sporting and other activities, geared toward youth.

Besides such happy moments, challenges remain, which need the cooperation of all stakeholders that by the way include foreign investors to tap into these young growing basketball talents. These South Sudanese people are not just tall enough to throw the ball in the bucket or block it from going through the bucket, but they are also nice people to interact with and be around them. Just hear about Manut Bol or be near Luol Deng and others for more to sense this positive energy of South Sudanese people.