Paris Games 2024: South Sudan men's basketball team wins first game in Olympic history
South Sudan
South Sudan on Sunday (Jul 28) beat Puerto Rico in their Olympic debut in men's basketball at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, making a historic start. Behind 19 points from Carlik Jones (SSD), the Bright Stars took down Puerto Rico 90-79.
Since 1996, no African nation had won a game in Olympic men's basketball, but South Sudan broke the drought in their first-ever Olympic games.
South Sudan is Africa's youngest nation. It gained independence from Sudan on July 9, 2011, as the outcome of a 2005 agreement that ended Africa's longest-running civil war.
The participation of this African nation is seen as a remarkable achievement considering the fact that the South Sudan Basketball Federation was only established in 2011, became a member of FIBA in 2013, and played its first official game in 2017 (an 87-76 loss to Egypt).
Despite being a young nation in the world of basketball, the Bright Stars have advanced significantly in just 12 years of existence.
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They made it to the quarterfinals in FIBA AfroBasket 2021 and they qualified for Paris 2024 as the top-seeded African team (finishing in 17th place)in FIBA World Cup 2023.
Also read:Paris Olympics 2024: India shooter Manu Bhaker wins historic bronze in women's 10m air pistol event
Anthem gaffe at the Games
The stunning game started off with an embarrassing gaffe. The African nation's basketball team looked distraught after the wrong anthem was played as they lined up before their clash.
The players and fans looked frustrated at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Villeneuve-d'Ascq after the blunder. The error was quickly fixed, and the right song was played.
(With inputs from agencies)