On August 28, in the second round of the men's basketball World Cup group stage, the Chinese men's basketball team lost to South Sudan by 20 points. In the first round, South Sudan once dragged Puerto Rico into overtime, and finally lost by only 5 points, and this mysterious African division became the focus of attention for a while. What kind of country is South Sudan? How did South Sudanese basketball develop? In this article, let's find out.
(Even the Chinese men's basketball team with Li Kyle failed to win South Sudan in the end)
South Sudan, formerly part of Sudan, was invaded and conquered northern Sudan in 1820 by the Ottoman governor Muhammad Ali, and during his own rule and that of his successors, Egypt and Sudan became a single political entity. However, in 1869, with the opening of the Suez Canal, the British Empire began to expand into Sudan, and in 1882, Britain controlled all affairs of Egypt and Sudan.
On January 19, 1899, Britain and Egypt signed the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement on Sudan in Cairo, establishing the Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Government, nominally under the joint jurisdiction of Britain and Egypt, but in fact mainly under British control. After World War II, as the Sudanese people continued to fight for national independence, on January 1, 1956, Sudan officially declared independence and established a republic.
(Republic of the Sudan, with its capital in Khartoum)
Although Sudan has gained independence in terms of sovereignty, due to historical reasons, there is a huge gap in culture and religious beliefs between the northern and southern ends of Sudan, South Sudan is mostly Christian blacks, while North Sudan is more Islamic Arabs. There has been constant friction between the two sides. Beginning in the 70s, there were two civil wars between the North and the South, and in 2005, the two sides signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and established the Southern Sudan Autonomous Government. In January 2011, South Sudan passed a referendum on independence, and on July 9 of that year, the Republic of South Sudan officially declared its independence, becoming the 54th country on the African continent.
(Independent South Sudan, with its capital in Juba)
After South Sudan's independence, the two sides continued to clash, and it was not until 2020 that a peace agreement was officially signed. Unexpectedly, the ultimate peace was made through basketball, and the two people who played a key role in it were South Sudanese born Manout Pohr and Raul Deng.
Thanks to the excellent height condition of 2.31 meters, Ball was brought to the United States from Sudan by NBA scouts, and played for 11 years for four teams, including the Washington Bullets (now Washington Wizards), Philadelphia 76ers, Warriors and Heat. As a role player, although his performance is not very good, he still has a lot of influence in the United States due to his outstanding height and contributions to various philanthropic causes.
(Bohr, who is 2.31 meters tall, and Boggs, who is only 1.60 meters tall, both played for the Washington Bullets)
It was because of Boll's influence in basketball that the then North Sudan government invited him to return to China as a sports minister, but because Boll was a South Sudanese, he refused the invitation from the North Sudan government. In Egypt, Bol opened a public basketball school, where he met former Chicago Bulls player Raoul Deng, both South Sudanese, and the two quickly became friends. After Bohr's death in 2010, Rohr Deng carried on his legacy and continued to develop basketball in South Sudan.
(Former Chicago Bulls player Raoul Deng)
In 2020, Raoul Deng became president of the South Sudan Basketball Association, and one of the first things he did when he took office was to recall South Sudanese basketball players scattered around the world. Most of the recalled players are immigrants from Egypt to Australia, and some to the United States. With the gradual increase in recalls, the South Sudanese men's basketball team quickly grew in strength and soon became a powerhouse in Africa.
(Gabriel, who plays for the Lakers, is the only active NBA player in South Sudan)
In addition to recalling players, Deng also used his influence to bring in former Rockets assistant coach Royle Ivey as South Sudan's head coach. In the 2021 non-championships, South Sudan, who participated for the first time, made a blockbuster and reached the quarterfinals. Although many people outside questioned their luck component, in the World Qualifiers, South Sudan completely broke these doubts and broke through in both stages. In particular, in the second stage, facing teams such as traditional powerhouse Cameroon and 2021 non-championship champion Tunisia, South Sudan won all and successfully advanced to the men's basketball World Cup. It is worth mentioning that due to economic backwardness, South Sudan does not even have a basketball hall that meets international competition standards, and all matches of the World Preliminary Tournament are played away from home.
(Former NBA player Raoul Deng, now president of the South Sudan Basketball Association)
In addition to the contribution of Raoul Deng, this achievement is also related to the fact that most of the South Sudanese players are Dinka people. The Dinka are the tallest ethnic group in South Sudan, and with their thin body and long arm span, South Sudanese players have a large defensive area, and can easily limit opponents whether they are single defenses or overall defenses.
However, due to their thin size, the physical confrontation ability of South Sudanese players is average, especially in the fight on the inside, their weakness is very obvious, which is very different from the traditional African teams that have always been physically good at attacking inside. Probably due to the fact that most players grew up in Australia, the South Sudanese men's basketball team has a similar style to the Australian men's basketball team.
(Compared with other African countries, South Sudanese players are generally tall and arm-length, but thin and thin)
In this men's basketball World Cup, the Lakers' current player Gabriel, the former 76ers Shayok, the former Hornets' Masion and the former Bulls' Jones have been selected, of which Jones is unnaturalized, Shayok and Masang, although they are from South Sudan, have represented Canada and Australia respectively, which may have been restricted in the past, but now FIBA has allowed it. So, in the men's basketball World Cup, we saw a strong South Sudanese team.
(In the first group match against Puerto Rico, South Sudanese naturalized player Jones scored 38 points)
After two rounds of the group stage, South Sudan won one and lost one, and the South Sudanese players impressed the outside world with their excellent outside touch. If they eventually qualify from the group, they will become the second African team to reach the second round of the World Cup after Senegal in 2014, which is absolutely a remarkable achievement for South Sudan and the African men's basketball team.